Kamikaze no Naruto
by Dominion0080
Summary: Naruto discovers something about himself at a young age which will change his life forever as he rides the winds of destiny.
1. Chapter 1

Kamikaze no Naruto

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Six year old Naruto Uzumaki huddled further into the hole in the wall he'd found concealed behind a refuse pile in the poor district of Konoha where the blonde bundle of energy lived. Shivering against the unseasonable cold, Naruto pulled his orange jacket tighter around himself to keep the warmth in. People constantly made fun of his clothes, but to him they were the nicest things he'd ever owned and he'd bought them with money that he'd worked hard to save. They were thick and sturdy and, above all, orange which was the most glorious color in the world. It was eye catching and vibrant, just like Naruto always strove to be.

Today was not a good day for Naruto to stand out, though, and the small boy cursed himself for forgetting the yearly festivities that accompanied his birthday. Every year on October 10th the village celebrated the defeat of the monstrous Kyuubi no Kitsune by the late Yondaime Hokage. There were parties and bonfires and game booths for the children and lots of drinking for the adults. Later, after the children of the village had drowsed off, some of the inebriated adults would indulge in one of their favorite pastimes: Naruto hunting.

The blonde had no idea why so many adults took such great pleasure in searching him out in their drunken stupor and beating him until someone showed up to stop them. It had always been the same ones who came to help, the people in the white animal masks. They made the drunks stop and took Naruto back to the orphanage or more recently to his apartment. Nothing was ever said and the bruising and pain were gone the next day, but this one day had always stood out in his memory. So why had he forgotten it now?

"Where'd the demon brat go," a drunken voice slurred from the street nearby, causing Naruto to hold his breath and hope they went away.

"Don't know," another voice replied as the sound of a stream of water indicated the man was relieving himself against one of the nearby walls. "The little bastard gets better at hiding every year."

"Damn Demon," the first drunk rambled. "Should've killed it right away. Can't understand why the Hokage let it live."

"Who knows," the other commented with a grunt as the stream of water slowed to a stop. "Still, who'd have believed that the great Kyuubi no Kitsune could be turned into a little kid like that blond brat?"

"Shh," hissed the first drunk. "You're risking your life talking about that. You know the penalty if one of the demon lovers hears you talking about the big secret."

"Yeah, you're right. We should catch up to the others. Maybe they've caught him already and I don't want to miss out…" The men's voices drifted off as they moved on down the street, leaving a wide eyed Naruto shaking as he sat inside his hidey hole.

_ I'm a demon_, he asked himself, one hand reaching up to touch the raised whisker marks on his cheek. _I guess it all makes sense. The way they treated me at the orphanage, the way the teachers at the Academy treat me, the way the shopkeepers won't let me in or charge three times the listed price for everything, the way the villagers glare and even spit at me all makes sense no. I'm the demon that nearly destroyed the village six years ago._

_ Wait a minute_, he thought as his mind spiraled around the new revelation. _If I'm the demon, why am I so weak and why does jiji play with me? He wouldn't play with me if I was a demon, so maybe these guys have it wrong. Maybe the demon's trapped inside me like it's in a prison. Then the old man would play with me cause I'm a jailor not a demon_. Proud of his logic, Naruto gave an emphatic nod as he realized that all the villagers and most of the ninja still hated him nonetheless. _Well, who cares what they think! I've got jiji, Ayame-neechan and Teuchi-ojiisan who like me and I don't need anyone else. I'll become strong enough to protect them and to hell with the rest of the village!_

"He's over there," a voice cried out nearby, jerking Naruto from his thoughts. "His chakra just spiked from over behind the garbage pile!" Naruto scrabbled as deep into the hole as he could, but light bloomed behind him and the blonde could feel hands reaching in to grab his ankle. He kicked out at the encroaching hands, but it was a futile effort as someone got a firm grip and pulled the boy out of the hole in one swift motion.

As Naruto was thrown to the street, a strange sensation began to build inside as he curled into a ball to protect his face and stomach from the oncoming blows. Kicks and strikes with blunt objects rained down while Naruto began to feel a strange tingling sensation and noticed a breeze playing back and forth across his body. It wasn't until he heard the sound of a blade being drawn that he began to panic, though, and the wind began to pick up as if in response to his fear.

"We should just finish the demon off right now," a hard, bitter voice stated with a cold contempt. "It's been allowed to live long enough and now that senile fool of a Hokage has let him into the Academy where he endangers our children." Naruto felt the sensation grow even stronger as his anger built. _How dare they insult jiji_, he railed silently.

"Now we'll finish the job Yondaime started six years ago and kill the monster once and for all," a slurred voice said. Pain blossomed in Naruto's side as a blade of some kind stabbed in deeply. The strange energy that had been building inside of him seemed to explode outwards as Naruto screamed in pain from the wound. The breeze that had been playing across him swirled into an intense gale of wind around the doomed boy. He could vaguely hear shouting and screams of pain over the howls of wind, but strangely enough the gale did no worse than blow gently across him as the darkness claimed Naruto's consciousness.

* * *

Sarutobi watched over the still form on the bed with a worried crease marring his already wrinkled brow. He loved Naruto like he was his own, but had been unable to take the boy in due to the circumstances of his position. It had been a cruel choice the Sandaime had been faced with six years prior when the Yondaime had dies in his effort to seal away the demon that was attacking the village. He had the choice to take the boy in and allow the Council to select their own Godaime, which would most likely have been Danzou or someone of like mind, or he could resume the title of Hokage and put what protections he could around the boy while watching from a distance. Obviously he'd chosen to resume his position, since he couldn't abandon the village to suffer under someone like Danzou.

That decision meant that Naruto had to be sent to the orphanage which was already filled to the brim with other orphans of the Kyuubi's attack. Sarutobi had hoped that this would allow Naruto some anonymity, but had underestimated how quickly word had spread about the boy's seal and whereabouts. The ANBU team he'd assigned to keep an eye on him had barely been able to stop the first wave of grief-stricken and vengeance obsessed ninja and civilians. That had forced his hand and he'd put a law in place to prevent people from talking about the demon or attacking Naruto by making it a capital offence and therefore punishable by death.

That didn't fully stop the attacks, especially around the festival celebrating the defeat of the Kyuubi but it had kept them to manageable levels which had slowly petered out over the years. Naruto had learned to avoid situations that would be dangerous for him, even though his pranks tended to piss off various civilians they were generally only done in places where there was a low chance of retaliation. Things had been a great deal better since the boy had moved out of the orphanage, as the ANBU watching the boy didn't have to worry so much about innocent bystanders.

Strangely enough, Naruto had managed to develop a level of stealth and ability to sense the presence of others that allowed him to elude his watchdogs on numerous occasions. This, of course, frustrated the ANBU a great deal and had amused the Sandaime more than anything since Jiraiya had left the village. It was unusual to say the least to have a six year old with stealth and sensory abilities most chuunin would kill to possess, although it had not helped Naruto the precious evening.

"Jiji, is that you," the boy asked softly, drawing Sarutobi out of his musings.

"Yes it is, Naruto," he replied fondly as the blonde groaned and rolled over in the bed to face him. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore…and tired and hungry," Naruto said, his face flushing in embarrassment as his stomach growled loudly. "I don't remember ever being this tired or hungry before,"

"Do you remember what happened last night?" Naruto nodded and buried his face in the pillow to hide his expression. "Naruto, I need you to tell me what happened. Something drained your chakra to the dregs and there was a large amount of damage to the areas around where you were found." _Better not tell him about the bodies_, Sarutobi thought. _Even though there was no indication of the boy tapping the Kyuubi's chakra, whatever he did cut those people into dozens of pieces and I'd rather he not have to deal with that at such a young age_.

"I dunno, jiji," Naruto replied, rolling his face back into sight with his eyes scrunched shut in concentration. "I remember running cause I got caught out after the festival by a bunch of drunks and I'd managed to find a good hiding place. Somehow they found me and pulled me out into the street where they started hitting me. I don't remember too much else except that it got really windy and someone stabbed me and I blacked out."

Sarutobi nodded while fighting internally not to frown. A vague notion tickled at the back of his mind for attention and his eyes widened as he realized what had occurred to him. Reaching into one of the pockets sewn into the sleeves of his robe, the Sandaime pulled out a small slip of paper and handed it to Naruto. "I want you to try and channel a little bit of chakra into this paper. Don't push too much or I'll have the doctors screaming at me for letting a patient exert themselves."

"Feh, as if the doctors have ever given a damn about me," Naruto grumbled as he took the paper from the old man. The blonde scrunched his face as he concentrated on channeling his chakra into the paper, only to frown when nothing happened.

"Don't fret, Naruto," Saurtobi said reassuringly at the boy's crestfallen expression. "You academy class is only starting to learn how to channel your chakra, so it shouldn't…" The old Hokage's voice trailed off as the paper suddenly fell apart into dozens of small pieces with clean cuts.

"Wow, that's really cool, jiji," Naruto exclaimed loudly and the fragments of paper were suddenly caught in a gust of wind and seemed to dance around the room while the blonde cheered.

"Well, I think I have and idea _what_ happened, Naruto," Sarutobi said slowly once he managed to pull his jaw off the floor. "Now if I could only figure out _how_…"


	2. Chapter 2

"Well, Naruto, I need to explain some things that the Academy won't discuss for a couple of years." Sarutobi said slowly while watching the bits of paper dancing in the breeze, noticing that not a single one of them dropped to the floor. "You know what chakra is, correct?"

"Sure, that's the stuff used in jutsu," the blonde replied immediately, not taking his eyes off the dancing paper either. "Tanioka-sensei's been teaching us how to mold it, but I keep getting in trouble so I never get to sit through the whole lectures. Even if it is boring."

Sarutobi frowned at that. He had received no reports from the Academy staff that mentioned anything like this, only the ones that mentioned how disruptive and inattentive Naruto was in class. "To be precise, chakra is a combination of our spiritual and physical energy, my boy, and over time this is affected by what we call elemental affinities. Fire, Water, Wind, Earth and Lightning are the major affinities. Most ninja will have some affinity towards one or more of these elements and they find that ninjutsu aligned with that element are easier to learn and use. That strip of paper I gave you is of a type used to test for elemental affinities. Fire burns, Lightning crumples, Water soaks, Earth crumbles and Wind cuts."

"So since mine got all cut up, that means I'm a wind affinity, right." Naruto asked as the bits of paper swirled back to his lap.

"Indeed you are," Sarutobi replied with a grin. "Wind types are extremely rare and are always very powerful, but I must say that your circumstances are unusual. Elemental affinities are usually developed after many years of chakra usage and training. For yours to manifest so early and so powerfully is both a good and a bad thing."

"What do you mean, jiji," Naruto queried. "How can something be both good and bad at the same time?"

"First of all, it means you're going to be a very powerful ninja someday," the Sandaime replied. "You have a large natural chakra reserve and you seem to be able to manipulate your element on a subconscious level. While these will be a big benefit for you right now, it will also make things more difficult later. People with large chakra reserves have problems developing the fine control needed for many jutsu and while wind jutsu do not generally require the same level of control as other elements, it will still be a struggle for you. The longest part of your training will be to bring your chakra under your conscious control. It's all well and good to have it react in order to defend you like it did yesterday, but as it stands right now you'll wind up tearing people apart whenever you get upset. Do you understand, Naruto?"

"Ehehe, not really," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head with a rueful grin on his face, "but if you say it's important stuff, jiji, then I believe you. Does this mean I get some kind of super special secret training?"

"No, Naruto, no super special secret training," Sarutobi chuckled. "I will give you a few extra exercises to work on, but for now your classes at the Academy will be demanding enough."

"Stingy," Naruto accused with a pout.

"How about I take you to Ichiraku's for some ramen after the doctor clears you to leave," Sarutobi offered, knowing which buttons to push to cheer the blonde up. A moment later his ears were ringing as Naruto shouted for joy.

* * *

Naruto stared sullenly at the wreck that was his apartment. The ones who hadn't been brave enough to actually go after him the previous night had taken their rage out on the blonde's apartment. The lock had been broken out of the frame, which made him snort since the door hadn't even been locked in the first place. A couple of cheap posters hung in tatters off the walls, his table had one of the legs broken off, his bed sheets had been sliced up and worst of all someone had thrown his potted plants to the floor and trampled them underfoot. It was not at all unexpected, as this had happened back at the orphanage, although he'd never had nearly so much to lose back there.

With a heavy sigh, Naruto began to clean up. The posters came down off the wall and were wadded up before being thrown out. The ripped sheets joined the posters in the garbage as he made his way to the little closet hidden by the bathroom door where he kept the spares. Grabbing a new set of sheets and a couple of spare pots as well as his broom and dustpan, Naruto continued to tidy up. The dirt was carefully swept up and used to repot the plants that had survived being stomped on and the table was set back up with a box of cup ramen propping it up.

His work done, Naruto collapsed into the chair that had survived the carnage relatively unscathed. It was probably for the best that the Academy was closed on the day after the festival or he would have to face the teachers and other students right away. With last night's revelation about the demon being trapped in his body, Naruto had felt an initial rush of anger and rage towards the other villagers. That had cooled down and mostly disappeared after jiji had taken him out for a ramen feast which had even impressed Teuchi-ojiisan. Naruto hadn't been kidding when he'd said that he had never felt quite so hungry before and had devoured a full thirty bowls before jiji had cut him off.

_Maybe it's because of my wind chakra_, Naruto mused as he stared at the cracked and discolored walls, pulling the small scroll that jiji had given him after lunch from his jacket pocket. _He said this was some kind of exercise to help me control my chakra_, he thought as he unrolled the scroll and began to read, struggling here and there on unfamiliar concepts and difficult words. _So this one here is about leaves and using chakra to make them stick to your body. Hmm, doesn't sound too hard. There's two more on here, one to coat paper with chakra without destroying it and another to make them move in patterns in the air. Eh, this part that jiji scratched out says to use something called chakra strings, but he wrote in to use currents of wind made with my chakra. Wow, can I really do that?_

Naruto scrunched his face as he concentrated on the feel of his chakra just like they'd practiced in class. The easiest was the lump of it that gathered around his central hara in his stomach where it flowed out into the rest of his body. It was definitely different than it had been before when it felt like he was trying to spoon syrup out to do what he wanted. Now it was like letting air out of a balloon, where he just had to control how much was being released. Naruto pulled a little out and let it flow into the air around him, gasping a bit as it swirled around his outstretched hand. _Wow, my normal chakra never did this_, he thought. _It just sat there. Tanioka-sensei said it was like that cause we need the hand seals to make it into what we want. Is my wind chakra like that too? I mean, it's already moving on its own in a swirling pattern just like the spiral on my jacket or the water going down the toilet._

Naruto watched the spirals of wind forming around his hand and came to a decision: this would be his trademark. He would embrace the spiral like his name implied. He would master his wind chakra and learn to fight with it, proving to the village that he was no demon. He would make those bastards who treated him badly understand just how wrong they were!

* * *

"Do you understand the mission as I've outlined it," Sarutobi asked looking over at the expressionless white mask of the ninja standing in front of him. "I'm not ordering you on this one since it will necessitate your leaving ANBU."

"I understand, Hokage-sama," the masked ninja replied deferentially. "I have benefited from my time in ANBU, but I have no real attachment to it. Your need may work out for the best where I am concerned and my general anonymity provides an excellent level of plausible deniability."

"Very well then," Sarutobi said. "I'll need you to submit an initial report within the week and regular reports once a month. Try to keep an eye out for the boy, but don't do anything to jeopardize your cover. I don't want anyone to be able to connect you to him. Speaking of Naruto, I haven't asked you how you feel about…"

"His…situation, Hokage-sama," the masked ninja offered. "I've never made a secret of the loss I suffered during the attack, but I'm not dumb enough to blame him for its actions. I've never met the kid myself, but based on what I've heard from my colleagues he's had a hell of a time. I'll probably grow fond of him, but my background will be necessary to gain the acceptance of the others until I become a fixture."

"It sounds like we've covered all the important points," Sarutobi sighed. "I'll be waiting for you first report then. Goodbye, Iruka-kun."


	3. Chapter 3

Two Years Later

Two Years Later

Dawn lit over Konoha to the sight of a small orange clad form running from a group of enraged ninja who were shouting various obscenities not fit for the ears of children. The boy was laughing his head off as he outpaced his pursuers with an ease that belied his young age. He occasionally threw things back at the angry ninja causing small explosions of colored smoke and paint to splatter all over them. Several were already Technicolor and quite angry about it.

"Get back here, Uzumaki," one of the pursuing ninja yelled angrily. "you've gone too far!"

"Hah! I just thought you bastards needed a makeover," Naruto shot back over his shoulder. "you know, to add a little color to your lives!"

"Painting the Military Police locker rooms in neon orange and replacing the clothes inside with clown costumes does not count as a makeover," shouted an irate chuunin.

"It was still funny," Naruto called back as he suddenly dropped from the rooftops. The pursuit force actually overshot the alley he'd disappeared into and by the time they'd doubled back, Naruto had disappeared.

"Damn it, How can we lose track of some eight year old kid," one of the ninja cursed kicking over a trash can in the alley. "Can any of you sense his chakra nearby?"

"No sir," another ninja replied phlegmatically, "but that's not a surprise. No one's been able to catch him for almost a year now and the Hokage's order is that if he gives us the slip we can't continue the pursuit."

"And the old man always seems to know everything that's going on," the first ninja grumbled.

"That's why he's the Hokage," a third ninja chimed in. "Let's get back to the station. You know how much paperwork this is going to mean." A chorus of groans met this statement and the group leapt back onto the roof making their way back to Military Police headquarters.

Once he was sure they were gone, Naruto let the camouflage cloth drop with a sigh of relief. Despite all his practice it was still difficult for him to suppress his chakra to the point where others couldn't detect it. He'd spent a lot of time running from various ninja after performing one of his pranks, which were not just for fun or for attention. No, Naruto had spent his time planning his pranks to maximize his training in stealth, stamina and evasion techniques, or so he would claim if pressed. The Military Police had competent chuunins, even if they weren't Uchiha anymore, and trying to outrun and hide from them had provided the blonde with a level of training he could never get out of the Academy.

Oh, classes had been better ever since they'd gotten Iruka-sensei as a replacement for Tanioka-sensei. Rarely was Naruto sent out into the hall anymore unless he really was acting up or involved in a prank. His grades had initially seen a sudden upswing until Naruto had come to a realization. One of the things they'd been taught in the Academy was that a shinobi's career was built around deception. Being a ninja was not just about overpowering your opponent; it was about making your opponent underestimate you so that a kill could be achieved with minimal effort. Naruto took this to heart and began sabotaging his own performance to hide his growing knowledge and skills. He purposefully blew questions on tests to keep his scores low, he threw wide at target practice to hide his growing accuracy and stumbled during taijutsu practice to make everyone think of him as a clumsy idiot.

Only the Sandaime had any idea how much Naruto had improved, since the blonde saw him on a regular basis either at Ichiraku's or in his office at Hokage tower. Naruto's control over his wind chakra had increased substantially over the last two years, but he'd found himself unable to do anything really spectacular with it. As far as he could figure, hand seals of some sort would be necessary to truly harness it for jutsu. One thing he'd discovered that was easy to do was to make the wind sharp, so sharp that it could cut through kunai with little effort.

"Well, that was irritating," Naruto commented to no one in particular. He folded the camouflage cloth into a very small square and tucked it away into his equipment pouch. Peeking out of the small alley, Naruto checked the street to make sure none of his pursuers had remained behind in hopes of catching him before bounding off towards his favorite training ground. It took him several minutes to traverse the maze of streets before he made it to the forested land that encompassed the training grounds that were actually inside the village walls.

The area Naruto liked to train in was one of the less commonly used areas. As was evidenced by the damage he'd caused remaining instead of being repaired by one of the genin teams on an easy D-rank mission. The blonde liked the fact that there was little chance of being found by some random busybody chuunin or jounin looking for him. He flopped to the ground and leaned back against one of the posts set into the earth as he tried to figure out a new training regime.

_What I really need is some kick ass ninjutsu_, he mused, _but jiji said I had to work hard for any jutsu I got and that he wouldn't even think of giving me one until I was ready to graduate. Feh. Maybe I should work on taijutsu_… Naruto's eyes scrunched shut as he thought deeply on that. _Frankly, the Academy taijutsu sucks for me. Too many of the moves in the standard style are based on straight lines and not the spiraling moves that I need to incorporate my wind into my fighting. The only thing I've ever seen that uses circular moves was that one guy I saw practicing with his sword … Hey, that's it! I need some kind of blade instead of just relying on my fists or kunai._

Naruto jumped to his feet and darted off to one of the nearby sites where he'd seen the guy practicing with his katana once before. Unfortunately for the blonde, the ninja did not seem to be present that day and there was no sign that anyone had been here recently. _Maybe jiji could help me find someone who can teach me something about blades_. Nodding to himself, Naruto took off back into the village interior, heading for Hokage tower.

* * *

"I'm sorry to say, Naruto, that I cannot directly help you," Sarutobi said regretfully. "While I would love to have someone teach you, or even take the time out to teach you myself, my hands are tied. The Council has been chipping away at my authority by influencing the ninja of the village and your pranks are one of their favorite weapons."

"I'm sorry, jiji," Naruto apologized with a hung head. "I didn't mean to cause so many problems for you, but those guys deserve to…"

"I understand what you mean," Sarutobi interrupted with a chuckle, "and I tend to agree with you. Everyone you've been pranking has been an experienced shinobi that shouldn't be caught off guard by an Academy student. And it's not your fault that the Council is being a bunch of disagreeable old women, they're just using you as an excuse to come after me. Now, just because I can't help you directly doesn't mean that I can't help you at all. You said you were interested in improving your taijutsu?"

"Sort of," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head. "I was kind of wanting to learn how to use a weapon, since none of the taijutsu styles match my need for spirals. The only thing I ever saw was that sick guy who was out practicing with his katana."

"Hmm, that sounds like Gekkou Hayate," Sarutobi mused. "I know for a fact that he's not in any position to teach right now, but wait…there was that scroll I found in the archives all those years ago…" He rose creakily from his desk and ambled over to a shelf of old musty scrolls, rooting through them until he found the one he was looking for. "I believe that you're equally capable with either hand, right, Naruto?"

"Yeah," the blonde replied with a shrug. "I generally use my right hand, but I can use my left hand just as well."

"Then this style might just suit your needs," the Sandaime said as he handed a large scroll to the boy. "It has no formal name, but the style is based around a principle called the Ryuusei no Ugoki, the Flowing Water Step. The scroll describes the basics, but I'll need to get you the weapons."

"Ne, jiji, what kind of weapon is it," Naruto asked, practically bouncing in his seat.

"A pair of kodachi with a special daiya that will hold both blades and make people think it's a nodachi," Sarutobi replied. "From what you've been telling me, you've taken to heart that a ninja's life is about deception. This will keep your opponent off balance and give you a nice edge in battle since he will assume you fight with a much longer blade.

"Ano…jiji," Naruto hedged. "I don't think I can afford something expensive like that. I mean, my wind chakra wears my kunai out after a couple of weeks of use."

"Don't worry about that," the Sandaime said with a laugh. "Consider this a birthday present to make up for the ones I couldn't get you before. As for the wear and tear your wind chakra causes, don't worry overmuch. There are certain alloys that are designed to work with wind chakra. My son Asuma has a pair of trench knives he uses for combat made from one of those alloys and he's very proficient with his wind affinity, although his affinity is nowhere near as strong as yours."

"That's awesome, jiji," Naruto exclaimed, but frowned as a thought occurred to him. "But won't that make more trouble for you? You said you were already having trouble with the Council, so won't this make things worse?"

Sarutobi gave the blonde a devilish grin that seemed to strip the years off the old face and remind Naruto of the one he wore when planning a massive prank. "Leave the Council to me, my boy. I've had my fill of their power plays and the plans I set up to bring them back into line are bearing their fruit. The days when the Council could tell the Hokage what to do are at an end, so don't worry for me. Just concentrate on your training and grow strong."

"Give them hell, jiji," Naruto said with a matching grin as he got up and left the office.

"Don't worry," Sarutobi chuckled at the departing boy. "They won't know what hit them."


	4. Chapter 4

Two Years Later

Naruto whirled the two blades expertly around him, his face scrunched up in concentration as he focused on his footwork. It was all for nothing, however, as his foot caught on a rock sending the blonde face first into the ground. With a muffled curse, Naruto pulled himself up to a sitting position while making sure to sheath his paired kodachi carefully into the daiya strapped across his back at the waist.

"why the hell can't I get this right," he cried out in frustration. "Two damn years and I'm still stumbling over the damn footwork. My blade work's fine, but it's worthless without being able to move in the right ways. I don't care if jiji claims it's because I'm still growing, other students don't have the same problems!"

Since receiving the scroll detailing the basics of his style, Naruto had read it from end to end literally a dozen times. It had seemed like a godsend to the blonde as the style was all about spiraling movement and slipping around an enemy's guard. The problem lay in Naruto's own complete lack of fluidity and grace. For some reason, his body never reacted in the right way no matter how long he'd practiced the movements.

"Ah, to hell with it," Naruto cursed. "I still got class at the Academy today." The blonde rose to his feet and made sure that the scroll was packed away into a waterproof nylon bag along with his swords before secreting it inside a hollowed out tree, moving some branches across the hollow to obscure it. It didn't pay to keep anything in his rundown apartment unless Naruto wanted something to be destroyed or stolen by some random drunk villager one day, so he'd prepared a hidden cache here at his favorite training ground and kept everything he considered important in it.

Naruto dashed out of the woods a short time later, glad that the Academy was closer to the training grounds than to his apartment. He managed to slip into the classroom just as the bell was ringing, hiding among the last stragglers and taking his seat relatively unnoticed. He sat next to Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji; glad that the phlegmatic boy and his food obsessed friend were friendlier than most of his classmates, but never pried too deeply into the blonde's persona of the barely competent prankster. Naruto had an idea that Shikimaru suspected he was more than he let on, but the Nara boy's native laziness blunted the insight of his incredible intelligence.

Most of the class was fairly worthless, in Naruto's opinion. Despite the high number of children from prominent clans, few of them would be ninja that the blonde would consider trusting to watch his back on the battlefield Nara Shikamaru was smart , but too lazy to ever be truly effective in the field. Akimichi Chouji had potential for some real power, but he was too easy going unless someone called him fat. Inuzuka Kiba was fairly solid, if a bit of a loud mouthed braggart. He didn't even have one of his clan's nin dogs to back up his bravado either. Aburame Shino was deep. The stoic boy who sat in the back of the room was very skilled even though he appeared mediocre in his scores. His bugs allowed him a great deal of flexibility even if they deprived him of the chakra needed for most jutsu.

Most of the class's kunoichi were clearly a waste, since they spent their time fangirling rather than training for their future. Yamanaka Ino, despite being a major pain in Naruto's rear, had some potential if she ever gave a damn about developing it. Sadly, she cared more for her looks and chasing her Sasuke-kun. Haruno Sakura was practically useless except for her book smarts, but that was outweighed by her competition with Ino to be the number one stalker of Uchiha Sasuke. Hyuuga Hinata was probably the most promising kunoichi in the class and she wasn't a member of the Uchiha's fan club, but her complete lack of self confidence crippled her. It baffled the blonde that anyone with Hinata's advantages could think so poorly of themselves, since he'd had to build his self-confidence the hard way over the years through scraps of grudging acknowledgment from the village that hated him.

Naruto shook his head to clear the abstract thought about his classmates away as the one person he hated more than anybody in the world entered the room. Uchiha Sasuke. He was the exact opposite of everything Naruto was. Where Naruto had grown up poor, Sasuke had been raised in privilege. Naruto had never had family, had never known the loving touch of his mother; Sasuke had taken his family for granted and then lost it when his clan had been massacred. Naruto had to struggle to get someone to teach him and had to search for a single shopkeeper who wouldn't rip him off too badly or outright refuse to serve him; Sasuke had people tripping over each other to teach him and shops gave him outrageous discounts on the highest quality merchandise. Suffice it to say, Naruto loathed the stuck up emo bastard with every fiber of his being, but he never let it show. After all, a ninja should never allow his emotions to show or they could be used against him. So Naruto plastered his cheesy grin across his face and played the cheerful class clown.

Iruka-sensei's entry into the room quieted everyone down as the scarred chuunin settled his papers and began to call attendance. _He's a hell of a lot better than Tanioka-sensei ever was_, Naruto thought as he watched the teacher. _ I could almost swear that he's purposely restraining his chakra, though, and it's a really subtle technique too. It's not like what I use when I ghost out my chakra and disappear, it's more like he built a dam and is controlling how much is let loose…_

"Uzumaki, are you paying attention," Iruka said, interrupting Naruto's thought and causing him to flush. "If you think my decision to move on to new material isn't a good idea, perhaps you'd like to come up and give the call a demonstration of your proficiency with the bunshin no jutsu?"

Naruto fought back a stab of irritation as he rose and moved up to stand in front of the class. He really couldn't take exception to being called out since he had been lost in thought for longer than he'd realized. Naruto made the handseal and channeled the chakra into the jutsu, trying desperately not to wince as the malformed and half-dead clone appeared on the floor. Why couldn't it have been Henge or Kawarimi? He had those two jutsu down pat.

"Dismal, as usual, Uzumaki," Iruka said sadly, shaking his head as Naruto returned to his seat. "Can anyone tell me why his bunshin failed so pathetically?"

"Cause he's an idiot," Kiba shouted, causing the class to snigger. Iruka leveled a glare at the rowdy boy, causing him to shift uncomfortably and quiet down.

"Ano, Iruka-sensei," Sakura offered. "He might not be using enough chakra for the bunshin to form properly."

"That's is certainly one possibility, Sakura-kun," Iruka said with pride before turning to the rest of the class. "Can anyone think of another possibility?"

"Perhaps he used too much chakra and overloaded the jutsu, causing it to misfire," Shino proposed quietly.

"That is also a valid possibility, Shino-kun," Iruka replied. "Too much chakra can be as much if not even more of a problem than too little chakra. A surplus will lead to a misfire and with elemental techniques, it can also cause the jutsu to explode in your face. However, today's lesson is going to be about chakra control." A chorus of groans erupted from the class at this. Chakra control was one of Iruka's favorite topics and was always the subject of an incredibly boring lecture.

"I know that many of you are tired of hearing me lecture on the benefits of chakra control, but it is one of the cornerstones of any ninja's abilities. I'm not going to bother with my standard lecture since I know you've heard it forty-seven times. No, today I'm going to tell you about some of the more advanced chakra control exercises you'll learn when you make genin and see if you'll understand the importance of working hard at the basics." By this point, virtually everyone's eyes had glazed over in boredom. Except for Naruto. He had his eyes narrowed in intense concentration. After all, this was brand new information and not the same old lecture.

"Tree climbing and water walking are chakra control techniques commonly taught to genin before they begin training in elemental techniques. Not only do they teach the advanced chakra control necessary, but they also provide other abilities. Tree climbing allows a ninja to walk up sheer surfaces and generally teaches how to channel chakra to one part of the body to cling to something. Water walking allows the shinobi to walk on top of an unstable surface with chakra and is the basis for enhanced jumping as it teaches how to channel chakra to repel yourself from surfaces." Naruto could feel the wheels turning in his head at the sudden influx of new information and he suddenly came to an interesting realization.

_That's what I've been missing_, Naruto thought. _I've been concentrating on my footwork so much that I forgot there was more to it than the movement of my feet. What I need to do is figure out how to do the water walking thing and use my wind chakra to create a cushion to move around on! This is awesome! Who'd have thought I'd find the answer I was looking for in class of all places?_

Class droned on for some time after that, but Naruto's mind was already running full tilt on new training ideas. When the bell for lunch break rang, he was the first one out of his seat and bolted out the door. The blonde had already decided that he was going to skip afternoon classes, since the morning session had already yielded amazing results. Naruto headed out of the schoolyard and deep into the woods, hoping no one paid too much attention to him leaving the Academy grounds. There was a deep pool near one of the village walls that he liked to use to cool off in the summers without anyone else noticing.

Naruto took the precaution of stripping down to his boxers before approaching the pool of water, not wanting to have to deal with wet clothes on the way home. Putting one foot out of above the water Naruto tried channeling chakra to it and slowly lowered it to the surface, only to immediately break the surface tension. _Looks like this will be harder than I thought_, Naruto considered ruefully as he set himself to work.

* * *

It took Naruto a little over three months to walk shakily on the water and another six weeks of work to figure out how to create the cushion of wind chakra beneath his feet. It was almost like learning to walk again, since the pad of chakra kept him from experiencing friction. Naruto had to learn how to move in all directions, how to stop and how to keep his balance while doing all of these things. The blonde spent weeks mastering his new style of locomotion until molding the chakra for the air pads and acceleration became second nature and instinctive.

With his newly acquired ability, Naruto found his use of the Ryuusei no Ugoki was improving by leaps and bounds. The forms went much smoother when he wasn't worrying about his footwork tripping him up. He'd even started practicing channeling his wind chakra into the blade and was thrilled to see that the blade was holding up to the stress. With the use of his wind chakra, Naruto found himself able to extend the cutting range of the blades by as much as six feet at a time.

Satisfied that he was making sufficient progress on his fighting style, Naruto pondered the other deficiencies in his arsenal. He had mastered the Kawarimi, the Henge and escape techniques, but he knew that he couldn't get the bunshin right nor was he any good with genjutsu. He had no combat ninjutsu and jiji had been stingy with even the promise of new jutsu.

_What I really need is some kind of information on creating jutsu,_ Naruto thought as he flowed through one of his kata. _Something about how the hand seals work in manipulating the chakra_…Naruto's train of thought derailed as one of the trees he'd damaged with his wind blade finally snapped and fell towards the blonde. Naruto froze in horror as the trunk descended, closing his eyes and crossing his arms in front of his face.

Seconds passed into minutes and as Naruto realized that the tree still hadn't hit him, the blonde opened his eyes and lowered his arms to see the trunk suspended in mid air. He reached out tentatively to touch it and was surprised to see that his hand was stopped by something before it actually touched the tree. Moving out of the path of the suddenly halted object, Naruto saw the trunk slide off to the side and fall the rest of the way to the ground like it had been moving along a curved surface.

"Holy shit," he exclaimed, staring at the downed tree in disbelief. "How the hell did I do that?" Naruto reached out to where he'd felt the obstruction that had blocked the tree and found nothing. "I wonder if this is what jiji meant about accessing my wind chakra subconsciously. I must have made some sort of solid shield of air to protect me. That is so cool! If I can learn to do that at will…damn, I'll be awesome!"

Naruto sheathed his blades and plopped himself back onto the ground. This was going to require a lot of intense practice, but oh the possibilities the blonde could imagine were endless.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Sorry this took so long. A combo of RL and writer's block conspired to delay it. I hope to be back to a semi-regular schedule soon. Thanks.

Two years later

Naruto yawned and stretched as he sat up in his bed. _Ugh, I shouldn't have stayed out practicing so late last night. I mean, today is the day of the genin exam after all_. Looking blearily over at the clock, it took several seconds before the time actually registered on his tired mind. "Crap, I'm gonna be late!"

The blonde jumped out of bed and dashed into the bathroom, turning the shower on to heat up while he relieved himself and brushed his teeth. By the time the shower was steaming, Naruto had finished the rest of his morning ablutions. One thorough wash and a cursory rubdown with a towel later, Naruto jumped into his clothes before grabbing a bottle of milk from the refrigerator. He chugged the milk down as he ran out the door and hit the streets, barely noticing that the milk tasted a little funny.

Darting among the early morning shoppers, the blonde disregarded the cursing of the people who recognized him as he bumped into several of them on his way to the Academy. A grin spread across his face as he saw Ino and Sakura having an odd sort of foot race that was moving at a fast walk. _Well, if they're not at the Academy yet then I can't be as late as I thought I was, _he thought as he turned the corner and spotted the Academy at the end of the street.

When Naruto finally made it into the classroom, his mood darkened as he saw Uchiha Sasuke sitting along the side wall and staring out the windows. _Damn broody bastard_, Naruto grumbled to himself before he was suddenly struck from behind and sent tumbling to the floor. He rolled over to see Ino and Sakura stuck in the doorway glaring at each other as the struggled to be the first into the room. Naruto shot them a dark look, but that changed into an evil grin as he realized the position they'd put him in.

"Wow, I'm surprised the two of you are so daring," the whiskered blonde said loudly, drawing the attention of the entire room. "I mean, I kind of expect the green lace from Sakura and all, but wow, Ino, a purple thong? Does your mother even know you own something like that?"

"What are you…" Ino started and stopped as she suddenly realized what the prone blonde had said and exactly what position he was in as the gathered students erupted in laughter. Her face blossomed an unhealthy shade of purple as she and Sakura began to stomp the holy hell out of Naruto as he laughed at them. Naruto carefully channeled his wind chakra to solidify the air around his body to absorb the blows, but curled up to make it look good for his audience. He probably didn't need to worry about them inflicting any serious damage, but it never paid to underestimate an enraged kunoichi.

When the pair of girls finally quit, exhausted from their pummeling of Naruto, they moved across the room and began squabbling over who got to sit next to Sasuke. The blonde rose to his feet slowly, brushing the dirt off his orange outfit and heading over to take his usual seat next to Shikamaru and Chouji. Truth be told, Naruto was more than a little nervous about the upcoming exam, since even with all the practice he put in his control could still be flaky at times. He wondered if it was the presence of the fox that made his chakra act so unpredictably at times or if he had some other condition he wasn't aware of.

"So you actually showed up, eh, Shikamaru," Naruto asked in an attempt to distract himself from his worries. "I thought you didn't really care to become a ninja because it was too troublesome."

"If I don't at least try, my mom would never let me hear the end of it," Shikamaru replied in his lazy drawl. "It's less troublesome to actually become a ninja than it is to have her bitching at me all of the time. I don't know how the old man puts up with it."

"Right," Naruto said mockingly. "Of course, with your luck you'll end up on a team with Ino."

"Shut up, Naruto," the other boy groaned. "Don't tempt fate. Our parents work together well, so they'll probably try to force us together also. Besides, with your luck you'll wind up with the brooding wonder over there."

"Damn, that's cold, Shikamaru," Naruto shivered. "They'd probably stick me with Sakura too, just to torment the hell out of me."

"All right, quiet down everyone," Iruka called out as he and Mizuki, who had joined Iruka as an additional instructor the year before, entered the room and made their way up to the desk at the front. "As you all aware by now, today is the genin exam. We'll be testing you in various area: taijutsu, accuracy, general knowledge and ninjutsu. The ninjutsu chosen for this year's exam is the bunshin no jutsu, so be prepared to make at least three bunshins as a demonstration. You'll need to pass at least three of the four exams in order to graduate, so keep in mind that you can bomb one and still pass. Does anyone have any questions?"

No one raised their hand, although Naruto was tempted to ask which asshole had chosen the bunshin no jutsu as the ninjutsu portion this year. With that being the ninjutsu portion, the blonde was starting to seriously worry about passing. The class followed the two instructors out into the practice yard, where they ran everyone through a light spar with the teachers. It wasn't too hard, since all you had to do was show a basic proficiency with taijutsu, be it a clan style or the one taught at the Academy.

Naruto managed to pass the taijutsu part easily enough and the group was led over to the target range to show their accuracy. Some of the students bombed out here, but the blonde was happy enough with his own results. Some students, like a certain Uchiha, took the opportunity to show off, but the blonde just sneered. It was a basic tenet of the shinobi code to never reveal anything to potential competition unless you absolutely have to. When Naruto's turn came up, he put just enough kunai and shuriken into the target to get a passing grade on that section.

The written test was up next and he could feel his apprehension growing as they all made their way back to the classroom. This was going to be tricky for Naruto, since he was never all that good at a written test despite his better performance over the last few years. The worst part was that they would break for lunch while the teachers graded the exams, with the ninjutsu portion held afterwards. Naruto sat down and poured himself into the test, wanting to make the best possible showing he could since he had no confidence in his bunshin no jutsu.

Fate was not being kind to the boy, though as partway through the test, he could feel his intestines churning in an unpleasant fashion. This made it one of the most nerve wracking times the blonde could remember; not only was his stomach rebelling, but he couldn't concentrate very well. As he turned his paper in, Naruto noticed Iruka giving him a sympathetic look. He'd grown fond of his teacher over the last year, despite the fact that Iruka was the only one who seemed to be able to capture him after a prank. The scarred chuunin had a fondness for lecturing Naruto on his responsibility as a future shinobi to the community, but the blonde had sensed an underlying approval over the skill and effort that his pranks took. In fact, after making Naruto clean the paint off the Hokage mountain during the blonde's artistic redecoration of it, Iruka had treated him to dinner at Ichiraku's. That had firmly elevated the chuunin above the level of the village and into the realm of Naruto's precious people. This did not, however, ease any of the blonde's apprehension over the written exam.

Lunch saw everyone breaking up into various groups of friends gathering to eat and discuss their performance on the morning's exams. Naruto hung out on the periphery after he returned from a lengthy stay in the bathroom, since he didn't really care to hang out with any of his classmates. Instead, the blonde ran through some meditation techniques that he'd learned during his chakra control exercises. He was worried about trying to perform his bunshin no jutsu and wanted to calm his chakra down as much as possible beforehand. Naruto had discovered that instead of the smooth flowing river the teachers described the chakra flow as being, his tended to be as chaotic as a waterway running through a series of rapids.

By the time the bell rang for their return to class, Naruto was beginning to feel desperate. If anything, the blonde's chakra was acting more chaotic and turbulent than ever and his bowels had kept him squirming as he tried to concentrate. He trudged into the classroom in low spirits as Mizuki was passing out the graded exams and felt his mood worsen as he saw the failing score on his test. That meant it was do or die on the ninjutsu part. One by one the students were called into the teacher's office to demonstrate their bunshin no jutsu and left either with a hitai-ate or tears on their face. When Naruto's name was called, he steeled his resolve and headed into the small room to meet his fate.

"Now, Uzumaki," Iruka said as the blonde stood in front of the two instructors, "you passed the taijutsu portion and the accuracy portion. Your written exam didn't make the mark, so this test will be necessary for your graduation. Now make three bunshins that look at least passably like you."

"Hai," Naruto replied as he focused on the handseal and tried to let the chakra flow evenly. "Bunshin no jutsu!" A puff of smoke cleared to reveal a single bunshin laying on the ground looking more dead than alive and most definitely not one that would pass the exam. Naruto fought to keep his disappointment under control, as he'd felt his chakra surge in the middle of performing the jutsu and knew it would fail.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but you fail," Iruka said shaking his head sadly.

"But, Iruka-sensei," Naruto protested.

"No, Naruto," Iruka said firmly. "That wasn't even one acceptable bunshin, much less the three required. You fail."

"Iruka, surely we could let the boy pass," Mizuki interjected sympathetically. "His written score was very close and he did manage a bunshin, even if it was a poor one."

"No, Mizuki," Iruka replied sternly. "The standards for graduation have been set where they are for a reason. They're the minimal requirements that the Hokage and the Council deem necessary for a ninja to be part of a team. I wouldn't be doing Naruto any favors by passing him; I would be giving him and his teammates a death sentence. You'll just have to try again next year, Uzumaki."

Naruto's head dropped as he left the room and headed outside where various parents had shown up to pick up their children. He plopped down on one of the swings and watched proud parents congratulate their successful children and disappointed parents console their unsuccessful ones. A surge of jealousy spiked through the blonde even as he hears the no so quiet whispers of waiting mothers comment about him. _This would be completely different if it wasn't for that damned fox_, he thought. _I'd still have parents and the villagers wouldn't dare look down on me._

"Iruka's not trying to be mean, you know," a voice said from behind the blonde. Naruto turned to see Mizuki standing there with a sympathetic smile.

"What do you mean," Naruto asked.

"You remind Iruka a lot of himself, you see," Mizuki explained. "He's an orphan as well and he was a bit of a hellraiser in his Academy days just like you are. He's worried you aren't ready yet, but I think you might be able to pass the make up exam."

"A make up exam," Naruto exclaimed, his face brightening like and overcast day where the clouds suddenly cleared. "What do I have to do?"

"Well," Mizuki replied with a sly smile, "you need to…"

* * *

Naruto landed by the old shack in the forest and thumped the giant scroll he was carrying onto the ground with a vulpine grin. The make up test had been pathetically easy so far, much easier than the regular exam. Getting into Hokage Tower was a simple thing, even if it was after hours, and the traps set up around the scroll were far below the standard of Konoha's number one prankster. Seeing jiji there that late had surprised the blonde, but he figured it was all part of the test so he'd used his Oiroke no jutsu. His modified anti-pervert henge had sent the old man down in an impressive spray of nasal blood.

"Let's see," Naruto said out loud as he broke the seals on the scroll and unspoiled the first portion of it. "Mizuki-sensei said that I had to learn one of the jutsus on the scroll, so I might as well start with the first. Hmm … Kage Bunshin no jutsu ... what!?

All the trouble I went through just for a lousy bunshin jutsu? There must be something different about this one then, so I'll read on. 'Kage Bunshin no jutsu is a technique that creates a solid clone where the chakra of the user is spread out evenly among the bunshins.' Wow, I've never seen anyone use a solid bunshin technique before and it says there's only one handseal for it. Time to get to work!"

Hours later, Naruto collapsed against the trunk of one of the nearby trees with a wide grin on his face. He'd done it! He'd managed to learn one of the techniques in the scroll after all that work and now he was going to get to graduate and finally be a ninja of the village. _Where's Mizuki-sensei_, Naruto wondered. _I would have figured he'd have shown up by now to check on my progress. What's the point of a test if it's not graded somehow?_

"Uzumaki!" a loud and familiar voice broke the stillness of the night as Iruka dropped into the clearing from the high branches. "Why did you steal that scroll?"

"Iruka-sensei," Naruto asked in confusion, "what are you talking about? This is part of the make up test for the genin exam, right? Didn't Mizuki-sensei tell you I'd be taking it?"

"Mizuki? Make up exam? Naruto, what are you talking…" Iruka was cut off as a hail of shuriken whirled out of the forest and embedded themselves in the ground where the chuunin had been standing a moment before.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you to be here, Iruka," Mizuki drawled from atop a nearby branch. "I guess it could be considered a nice bonus. I mean, I lured the brat here to get the scroll and get rid of him at the same time, but who'd have guessed that you'd be here too. What do you say, old boy, want to rid the village of the monster that murdered your parents?"

"Be careful of your words, Mizuki," Iruka grated through clenched teeth as he positioned himself between the other chuunin and a confused Naruto. "You know the law says…"

"To hell with that old man's law," Mizuki snarled. "We've tolerated that monster for years and you think I'm worried about some stupid law that no one bothers to worry about? Hey kid, want to know why everyone in this village hates you? It's cause you're the demon fox that nearly destroyed it twelve years ago! Now die!"

Naruto stood frozen, paralyzed by the killing intent the chuunin was leveling at him while another round of shuriken flew towards him. There was a meaty thunk as the blonde realized that Iruka had covered his body with his own and taken the blades in his back.

"Naruto, take the scroll and run," Iruka commanded, his teeth clenched in pain. "I'll take care of Mizuki." Naruto managed a nod and grabbed the scroll before darting off into the underbrush. He didn't go far, though, shrouding his chakra and moving through the underbrush to watch the action.

"Why are you protecting the little monster, Iruka," Mizuki called out as he pulled an oversized shuriken off his back and launched himself at the other man. "I remember in the Academy how you loudly proclaimed that the beast should be destroyed. So what's changed now?"

"He's no monster, Mizuki," Iruka grated out through the pain. "he's one of my precious students who has the potential to become a great ninja one day. I won't let you take that away from him." Iruka leapt away from the other man's attack and jumped into the high branches, moving in the direction that Naruto had disappeared in.

The blonde watched as Mizuki chased after the scarred chuunin, a warmth growing in his chest as he realized that Iruka had accepted him as he was and not as the monster most of the village saw. _I can't let that bastard kill Iruka-sensei_, he thought as he moved to follow the two teachers as unobtrusively as possible. When he'd caught up to them, Iruka had been injured again and was crumpled at the base of a tree while Mizuki ranted at him.

"I won't let you hurt Iruka-sensei ever again, bastard," Naruto growled as the traitorous chuunin turned to face him with a smirk.

"And what exactly is a failure like you going to accomplish against a seasoned chuunin," Mixuki mocked.

"A lot more than you'd think," Naruot smirked. "Taijuu Kage Bunshi no jutsu!" A haze of smoke filled the forest, revealing a horde of Natrutos perched on every available surface and grinning evilly at the surprised chuunin. "Let's get wild!"

* * *

This has been a very busy night, Iruka-kun," the Sandaime Hokage said gravely, his voice slightly muffled by the wads of tissue stuck up either nostril. "While a part of me is pleased by Naruto's ingenuity and capability, I'm also disturbed by the failure of our security and the presence of a traitor in our midst."

"I understand completely, sir," Iruka replied, "on both fronts. Naruto's skills are much improved, although it was not reflected well in the genin exam. Not all ninja can perform well on a written exam, but Naruto's inability to use the bunshin no jutsu had convinced me that he wasn't ready to be a genin. His mastery of the more complex Kage Bunshin no jutsu mystifies me. As for Mizuki, I have to confess that I completely misread the man. I knew him when we were genin and when we both took the chuunin exam and I would never have thought he would turn traitor."

"Ibiki will deal with Mizuki," the Hokage said in a cold voice. "I expect it won't be long before he tells us everything we need to know. I've also given orders to have security here in the Tower upgraded, since Naruto was able to steal the scroll so easily."

"I understand that he managed to subdue you as well, Hokage-sama," Iruka stated while working to keep a smile off his face. "He mentioned how easily you succumbed to a certain jutsu of his."

"Ahem, yes … well, that was a momentary weakness," the Sandaime coughed as a small blush spread across his cheeks," and I admit the boy took me by surprise. I was also interested in why he was after the scroll and where he'd heard about it. The least surprising thing was his mastery of Kage Bunshin no jutsu. I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me that it would be the answer to Naruto's continuing problems with the bunshin no jutsu. Of course, what kind of leader would I be to just give out a kinjutsu to someone who wasn't even a genin yet?"

"Why would Kage Bunshin no jutsu be better for Naruto," Iruka asked with a frown.

"Naruto is blessed with incredible stamina and an abnormally large chakra reserve, as well as his ability to naturally produce elemental chakra," Sarutobi explained. "The stamina and chakra at least are not the results of the burden he carries. They're inherited traits. Kage Bunshin no jutsu loses most of its harmful potential when those two factors are present and those factors also make it nearly impossible for the boy to gain the fine level of control required to master the basic bunshin no jutsu."

"Then you'll allow him to graduate," Iruka asked hopefully.

"I see no reason not to at this point," the Hokage replied. "I'd even prepped a team for him, although he probably won't like it."

"You mean … you put him with Sasuke, didn't you," Iruka accused.

"Of course," Sarutobi smiled. "In the long run this will be best for the both of them. I included the Haruno girl to balance out the team. It should be very interesting."

"That's hardly the word," Iruka groaned. "It'll be more like a massive headache."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Naruto stared at the hitai-ate in his hand in wonderment. It was scuffed and scratched and the band was starting to fray a little, but it had been given to him by someone who'd acknowledged him as Uzumaki Naruto and not as the demon container. Iruka had even taken the blonde out to eat at Ichiraku's after he'd been released from the hospital, which immediately had put him on Naruto's favorite people list.

"Today, I'm finally a ninja," Naruto murmured as he tied the hitai-ate across his forehead where he'd normally worn his goggles. "Yosh, today we're getting assigned our teams, so I have to make a good impression on my jounin-sensei! I just hope they didn't stick me with that bastard Sasuke." The blonde chuckled as he strapped on his weapon pouch and stretched, making sure to loosen each set of muscles and every joint. He'd slept deeply the previous night in a ramen-induced coma, although the blonde had considered one last prank before setting out on his career as a genin. Naruto had decided not to since he didn't want to make too many waves and make a bad impression on his new sensei.

The big question on the blonde's mind, though, was how much of his real ability did he want to show off? Should he let his teammates know about his wind chakra? He knew that he would have to let them in on his sword skill, rough as they were, if he was going to use them on missions. _No_, he thought, _I'll keep my wind chakra quiet at first. My jounin-sensei will probably figure out what I'm doing, but it would be better to hold my ability back as a trump card._ Naruto grabbed the daiya containing his blades and strapped it across the small of his back before looking in the mirror to gauge how he looked. _Pretty kickass_, he thought with a grin.

Leaving his apartment after a hearty breakfast of cup ramen and some questionable milk, the blonde took off across the rooftops towards the Academy. _Heh_, he mused, _feels good not to be chased for once_. It was still a bit early, but other successful genin were already trickling into the building. The Academy students were always given a day off after the genin exam, so that they wouldn't get worked up by seeing the jounin-sensei with their new teams. The blonde entered the classroom and plopped down noisily next to Shikamaru, who raised his head to glare heatlessly at Naruto for waking him up.

"Only those who actually graduated are supposed to be here today, Naruto," the lazy boy drawled.

"Hey, I passed," Naruto protested. "I took a make up exam and Iruka-sensei gave me my hitai-ate fair and square!"

"It looks awfully bet up and scuffed," Shikamaru said doubtfully. "Are you sure you didn't just dig it out of the trash?"

"Oh shut up," Naruto grinned as he realized the other boy was teasing him. "So who do you think you'll get teamed up with?"

"As long as it's not Ino or Captain Emo over there, I don't care," the other boy replied.

"Nah, I bet they put Sasuke on a team with a fangirl and his ego, since it's big enough to qualify as another person," Naruto deadpanned.

Shikamaru was unable to reply as Iruka entered the room and called for the new genin to quiet down. The youths settled into their seats fro the last time as Iruka began a lecture on their new responsibilities as genin, which Naruto mostly tuned out. While the chuunin may have made it onto Naruto's list of precious people, that didn't mean the blonde was going to pay any more attention to him than he usually did.

"Very well, I'll announce the teams now," Iruka finally said. "Team Seven will be Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto." The blonde groaned and began softly banging his head against the desk. "Team Eight will be Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba. Team Ten will be Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino. Your jounin-sensei will arrive after lunch to pick you up. Good Luck everyone."

* * *

Naruto stared at the desktop as he waited for his jounin-sensei to arrive. A burly man had collected Team Ten and a pretty red-eyed kunoichi had collected Team Eight. Both of them had come right after lunch, which meant that Team Seven had been waiting for nearly three hours now. _At least Sasuke-teme is content to stare out the window, but for the love of ramen why won't Sakura shut the hell up_, Naruto wondered as he fought to block out the mindless babble of the pink haired girl. She was busy trying to convince the Brooding Wonder that the two of them were meant for each other.

_I can't believe that I ever had a crush on that harpy_, Naruto shuddered as a scowl grew on his face at the memory. When he had been much younger and just started at the Academy, before the Hokage had given him his blades, Naruto had developed a crush on the young kunoichi. He'd followed her around like a little puppy for months until he'd annoyed Sakura enough that she'd started beating him into the ground every time he spoke to her. Needless to say, Naruto's crush on the girl had died and early and grisly death, which prevented Naruto from developing crushes on other girls he knew. He'd decided that any girl from Konoha would have to prove themselves worthy of him, although foreign girls were an open field for him since they wouldn't have any preconceived notions about him.

The door opening at long last broke Naruto's line of thought. If he'd been forced to wait much longer, the blonde had been seriously considering setting up some kind of trap in the doorway as revenge against the tardy jounin. Said jounin was tall and thin with a shock of grey-silver hair standing up in spikes on his head. His hitai-ate slanted down to cover one of his eyes and the lower half of the man's face was veiled by a mask. The jounin was dressed in the standard ninja blues and green flack vest, but something about the man raised the hackles on the back of Naruto's neck. Suddenly the blonde was glad he'd decided against the trap. This jounin seemed highly irritated and Naruto had no idea of the man's sense of humor.

"My first impression is that I don't like you," the cycloptic jounin said as his visible eye scanned the trio. "Meet me on the roof in five minutes." Disappearing in a puff of smoke, the jounin had not made a good impression on his students either.

Five minutes later, the three genin sat on the roof staring at the silver-haired man in anticipation. "Well, why don't we start with some introductions?"

"Why don't you start, sensei," Sakura suggested in her sickly sweet teacher's pet tone. It made Naruto shudder to think how many people heard that tone of voice and were completely fooled by it. "After all, we don't know anything about you…"

"Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi," the jounin said lazily. "My goals are none of your business … I have a lot of dreams … You're up next, pinkie"

"All we learned was his name," Naruto muttered while suppressing a snicker at the nickname their teacher had given Sakura.

"My name is Haruno Sakura," the pink haired kunoichi said, sparing a slight glare at the jounin. "My dreams for the future are …" She stared at Sasuke with hearts in her eyes before continuing," and my dislikes are Ino-buta and Naruto." The blonde stuck his tongue out at this statement and blew a raspberry.

"Ah," the jounin commented with a shrug. "Broody, you're up next."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke and I don't have a dream. It's more like an ambition: to kill a certain man and restore my clan." The scowling boy's face twisted in hate for a moment before he continued, "As for dislikes: fangirls, idiots and the weak."

"My turn!" Naruto practically hopped to his feet as he said, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto and my dream is to become the strongest ninja in the village so I can protect my precious people! Ands to become Hokage one day so I can prove myself to jiji for everything he's done to help me. I dislike broody assholes who think they're better than everyone else, whiny fangirls who worry more about their appearance than being kunoichi and vegetables. I like ramen, training and my precious people."

Kakashi stared at the three of them for a long uncomfortable moment as they traded glances back and forth. "Well," he said, "it looks like they've given me an interesting group this year. I want you to meet me at five in the morning on Training Ground Seven by the cenotaph for some survival training."

"But Kakashi-sensei," Sakura protested, "we did survival training in the Academy."

The one-eyed jounin gave a low, evil chuckle that sent shivers down Naruto's spine. "This is no ordinary survival training," he said. "The three of you will be going up against me so I can determine if you're worthy of being genin."

"We're already genin," Naruto blurted out. "We passed the genin exam and everything!"

"The Academy exam is just to determine who has the potential to become a genin," Kakashi replied. "The jounin-sensei gives his own test to gauge his team's worthiness. This will really blow your mind, since the test has only a thirty-three percent pass ratio. Out of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine of you will become bonafide genin. Now make sure you're there bright and early. Don't bother with breakfast; you'd just puke it up anyway." He rose to his feet, making a single hand seal and disappeared in a burst of smoke.

* * *

Naruto hated rising early. He'd actually considered whether he could make a law against it when he became Hokage, but figured it would waste too much time that could be spent in other, more valuable pursuits. The blonde wolfed down a cup of ramen, completely ignoring his sensei's orders and dashed out the door.

The previous afternoon and evening had been spent in a fruitless attempt to gather some information on his eccentric teacher. No one was willing to tell him anything more than the fact that Kakashi was an elite jounin and considered one of the strongest ninja in the village. Iruka had mentioned that they were forbidden to help the new teams pass; it had to be done on their own merits. The blonde had pouted for a while, then extorted an exorbitant amount of ramen from the scarred chuunin while complaining about his team the whole time. Iruka had just chuckled and informed Naruto that they would grow on him over time.

It wasn't a very long trip to Training Ground Seven, where he saw Sakura and Sasuke already waiting. The pink-haired kunoichi was chattering on non-stop and ignoring the glare of death the last Uchiha was sending her way. A mischievous idea formed in the blonde's mind and he created a pair of bunshin, one of which went to join the others while he kept the second one by him. It didn't take long to find a well-hidden spot and secret himself there, sending his other clone out to prepare traps just in case they really did have to go against the jounin.

Naruto's hideaway had a good view of the clearing around the cenotaph and the three posts planted in the ground. The real blonde settled himself in and carefully began to ceil his chakra the way he did when hiding from his pursuers. It wasn't difficult to maintain, but he did have to keep a certain amount of focus to keep it up. That became a challenge as the morning wore on and on with no sign of their team's sensei. Finally around ten, the lazy jounin waltzed into the clearing to be met with accusations about his tardiness from the Naruto-bunshin and Sakura.

"Calm down, you two," Kakashi said soothingly. "I'm sorry I'm late, but I had to help a little old lady carry her groceries home and we were attacked by assassins, which meant I had to make sure the area was safe…"

"Liar!" Sakura and the Naruto-bunshin yelled in unison, pointing accusing fingers at the jounin.

"All that aside," Kakashi continued, brushing off the interruption and pulling an alarm clock out of his vest and setting it on top of one of the posts. He opened his other hand to show two bells dangling from strings which he tied to his belt. "Your test is simple. You have two hours until the alarm rings. In that time, you have to get one of the bells from me by any means possible in order to pass. A word of warning, though, you won't succeed unless you come at me with the intent to kill and hold nothing back."

"But you're a jounin and we're only genin," Sakura cried out. "And there's only two bells!"

"Which means one of you will be going back to the Academy irregardless," Kakashi said cheerfully, his eye curving upward in a smiling manner. "After I tie the loser to the post and make them watch the other two eat lunch. That assumes, of course, that any of you will be capable of getting a bell away from me in the first place. Now, begin!"

Sakura and Sasuke darted into the woods, disappearing with the quick efficiency of those who'd studied carefully in the Academy. The Naruto-bunshin, however, stayed in the cleared, his arms crossed and scowled at the one-eyed jounin. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the actions of the bunshin and commented, "You're a strange one, aren't you? Why haven't you gone and hidden like your teammates?"

"The only strange thing here is your test, Kakashi-sensei," the Naruto-bunshin accused with a frown. "Iruka-sensei always talked about teams of three, but you're talking about a team of two. And how could an average genin expect to take something away from an elite jounin like you except by random chance? This isn't adding up and thinking this hard makes me want to hit something, so prepare yourself, Kakashi-sensei, because here I come!"

Naruto watched his bunshin recklessly charge the jounin, eyes narrowed to catch any reaction no matter how small. He almost fell over in surprise when Kakashi reached into his vest, which made the Naruto-bunshin skid to a halt, and pull out a small orange book. The jounin flipped it open and started reading while both Narutos fumed at being ignored. "Hey, what do you think you're doing reading a book in the middle of a fight," the bunshin challenged.

"Don't worry, I'm just doing this because it's getting to a really good part and I won't need much of my attention to take care of you," the jounin replied nonchalantly.

"I recognize that book," the Naruto-bunshin shouted in surprise. "It's the perverted one they sell at the adult bookstore. That means you're a pervert!"

* * *

Naruto couldn't help but sigh as he watched Sasuke get pulled into the ground. It really was kind of funny when Sakura found him and began screaming about her precious Sasuke-kun having been decapitated. Naruto's bunshin hadn't lasted long against the jounin, not even as long as the Uchiha had, since the blonde refused to let his bunshin use his blades or wind chakra. He had definitely been shocked when after the bunshin had been dispelled by the ass poke, the blonde had felt a phantom pain like he was experiencing the bunshin's memory. That promised some interesting possibilities for training, but the utter decimation of his 'teammates' had proved to Naruto that an individual genin couldn't truly take Kakashi on.

_Wait a minute_, Naruto thought frantically. _If one genin can't handle a jounin, what about more than one? Maybe the whole thing with the bell was to set us against each other so that we wouldn't work together to take sensei down_. Noting that Kakashi was nowhere visible and that he couldn't sense the jounin, Naruto darted out of the underbrush while forming the handseals for one of his homemade jutsu. He finished the seals just as he reached where Sasuke was embedded and Sakura was having hysterics. "Fuuton: Uzukazekiri no jutsu," the blonde said, slamming his hands into the ground on either side of the buried genin and carefully channeled the spiraling slicing winds so as not to cut his teammate in half. Gouts of dirt flew into the air, causing Sakura to scream while Naruto pulled the Uchiha out of the now churned earth.

"Come on, you two," Naruto hissed, grabbing them by the arms and dragging them into the underbrush. When they were a good distance away, he let go and turned to face them. "Look, I don't particularly like either of you and you're not exactly fond of me." Sasuke snorted at the statement of the obvious while Sakura settled for glaring. "I can live with that. What I can't live with is being sent back to the Academy as a failure. It's obvious that none of us is strong enough to take on Kakashi-sensei by ourselves…"

"Speak for yourself, dobe," Sasuke spat. "I don't need anyone's help to achieve my goals, let alone yours. After all, you lost to him too, didn't you?"

"That was a Kage bunshin and I was holding back to see what happened," Naruto growled in frustration. "Besides, I'm not the only one who lost against him, right? From what I've heard, Kakashi-sensei is one of the highest ranked jounin in the village and no one of us can match that. If the three of us work together, though, we might force him to make a mistake that we can take advantage of."

Sasuke scowled and looked away, but didn't protest further and Sakura looked like she had to bite back some kind of comment. "Good. Now we need to work out a plan. I had one of my Kage Bunshin set up traps in the woods surrounding the clearing, so we need to draw or push him close to the fringe. I'll make the distraction while Sasuke moves in to take the bells. Sakura, we'll need you to trigger the traps and provide fire support to keep Kakashi-sensei off balance. Let's go, we don't have much time left."

Naruto led the charge, channeling his wind chakra to his feet and accelerating using a skating like motion. He burst into the clearing where the cycloptic jounin stood engrossed in his book, drawing his kodachi as he charged forward. Realizing that Kakashi was unlikely to let him get too close, the blonde redirected a small amount of wind chakra though his blades in a slash. The blonde's first strike must have taken the jounin by surprise as the wind blade sliced through the man's flack jacket and broke the skin underneath. The book disappeared back into a pocket immediately and Naruto could see his sensei's visible eye widen, then narrow as he reached into his weapon pouch and pulled out a kunai.

With a foxy smile, the blonde continued his charge forward and let loose a battle cry as he brought a blade around in another slash at Kakashi. _With any luck_, the blonde thought, _Sakura should be triggering the traps about…now!_ A hail of shuriken and kunai flew from several points in the tree line towards the jounin, forcing him to leap back right into Sasuke's path as the raven-haired boy sprang forward to grab at the bells. Unfortunately, while Sasuke did manage to grab hold of the bells, Kakashi spun and struck the Uchiha sending him flying into the path of the approaching weaponry. _Crap_, Naruto thought, _it'll look bad if I let the bastard get hurt_.

The blonde slid forward to the point where his teammate was about to intersect the blades and gathered large amounts of wind chakra, which he released in a massive burst of air. The wind nullified the momentum of the weapons and sent them tumbling to the ground. Sasuke, while slowed down, continued forward and managed to land in a crouch by Naruto. He flashed a smirk at the blonde and jingled the bells in his hand. That was when the buzzer on the alarm clock went off, signaling the end of the test.

"Well, I have to say that you guys definitely surprised me," Kakashi admitted while gingerly checking the cut on his chest. "It seems you figured out that you'd have to work together to take me on. The question still remains as to what you're going to do with those bells, Sasuke. Remember what I said about one of you having to fail and go back to the Academy."

"You keep one, bastard, and give the other to Sakura," Naruto said. "I don't want to go back to the Academy, but this wouldn't have worked without you and Sakura helping."

"No," Sakura interrupted as she rejoined her teammates. "As much as I hate to admit it, I was pretty useless falling for that genjutsu like I did. You two should take the bells since you did all the real work."

"Bah, I don't need your charity," Sasuke scowled. "You two take the bells. I want to pass on my own merit."

"Hmm, you know this may actually be the first time anyone's ever reacted this way," Kakashi mused. "Normally, everyone argues why they should get the bells, not why they shouldn't. Congratulations, you three, you have all passed my test!"

"What!" All three genin looked at each other in amazement before Sakura continued for them, "Didn't you say that one of us would have to go back to the Academy?"

"I lied," Kakashi admitted with a shrug, causing the genin to face fault into the ground. "I needed to see if the three of you were capable of two things. The first was how well you could work as a team, which I am pleased to see happened very quickly after I defeated you individually. The second was how willing you were to risk yourself for a comrade. Each of you was willing to accept the failure to allow your teammates to pass, but even better was that you weren't willing to accept your teammates' sacrifice just to pass. A shinobi who does not complete his mission is trash, but a shinobi who abandons his comrades is lower than trash. Meet me tomorrow at the bridge by the entrance to this training ground and we'll go on our first mission."

Naruto let out a whoop of joy at this while Sakura smiled in relief and Sasuke even let his brooding expression crack a little in celebration.

* * *

"I'm glad you passed the, Kakashi," the Hokage said with a broad smile. "I'm sure that all of you will work quite well together."

"We'll see," Kakashi replied nonchalantly. "I'm more interested in who's been teaching Naruto nature manipulation and where he got hold of chakra blades."

"The chakra blades were a gift from me," Sarutobi admitted guiltily. "I gave them to him while I was wresting control back from the Council, taking the opportunity to make sure the boy had a solid weapon. As for his nature manipulation, that's something of a mystery. When Naruto was six, he was attacked by a drunken group of villagers and shinobi and his wind nature manifested to protect him."

"You're telling me that the boy began spontaneously generating elementally natured chakra," Kakashi asked incredulously. "It takes most jounin years to be able to do that reliably."

"Not only does he generate it," Sarutobi added, "he has difficulty producing non-natured chakra at all. It's an odd reversal of the normal progression to be sure, but the boy has developed a strong set of skills and even a few jutsu around his elemental nature that I'm sure you'll see in time."

"I've seen a bit of it today," Kakashi mused. "I believe he used a futon jutsu of his own devising to release Sasuke from the ground and his wind blade came very close to slicing me in half. Then there was the windstorm he created to block the shuriken and kunai that were about to hit his teammate. Frankly, I'm wondering why you didn't just assign him to Asuma, since he's one of the few wind chakra users in Konoha."

"I did consider it," the Hokage said quietly as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair, "but Asuma wouldn't be able to break through to the boy. He's closed himself off from the majority of his peers and holds everyone around him to an incredibly high standard. He actually reminds me a great deal of how you were when you were assigned to Team Seven all those years ago."

"We'll have to see about that," Kakashi stated as he pulled out his orange book and left the office.


	7. Chapter 7

_I hate that damned cat_, Naruto thought sourly as he glared at the irascible feline resting comfortably in Sakura's arms. This was the fifth time in a week that Team Seven had been sent out to recapture Tora, who seemed to delight in escaping from the grasp of the Daimyo's wife. Of course Naruto tended to hate cats in general, since they'd always reacted badly to his presence. _Maybe they can sense the damned fox_, the blonde wondered, _or maybe they're just pure evil_.

The group of genin trudged up to the mission center at Hokage Tower and turned toe accursed feline over to its heavyset owner. Naruto couldn't help but let out an evil, vindictive chuckle as Tora was squeezed hard enough for his spine to make cracking noises, causing his teammates to stare at him oddly. The blonde shrugged and gave a sheepish smile as they headed up to the desk for another mission. _Great_, Naruto thought, _another day doing menial chores for the villagers. Damn it, I want something better_!

Iruka, who was manning the mission desk today with the Hokage, smiled at his former students as they approached. "Finished with Tora already," he asked as he rifled through the papers in front of him. "Let's see what other D-Ranks we have available … Ah, there's a job weeding the herbalist's garden, delivering groceries to the elderly, cleaning the trash from the park…"

"No, no, no," Naruto shouted. "I'm tired of all these crappy missions. Damn it, jiji, give us a real mission where can prove what we can do!"

"Naruto! Show Hokage-sama some respect," Iruka yelled back, rising to his feet and slamming his hands on the table. "Your team is too inexperienced to handle more than the usual D-Rank missions. The ranking system is graded by difficulty by shinobi many years your senior who know the risks far better than you…"

"Maa, calm down, Iruka-kun," Sarutobi chuckled. "I'm actually surprised Naruto has managed to be as patient as he already has. Besides if I recall correctly, he has the same number of missions under his belt that you did when you first requested a C-Rank mission."

"That was completely different, Hokage-sama," a flustered Iruka muttered as he returned to his chair.

"What do you think, Kakashi," the Sandaime asked, "is your team ready for a higher ranked mission?"

"I don't think it will hurt anything," the one-eyed jounin answered, briefly looking up from his little orange book. "Their teamwork is at an acceptable level and their individual skills are decent overall. I'll be there to look after them as well.."

"And you're growing bored with supervising D-Ranks," the Hokage chuckled. "Well, as it turns out we have a low risk C-Rank escort mission available."

"Awesome! Are we escorting a Daimyo or a princess," Naruto asked excitedly before Sakura cracked her fist over his head.

"Would you bring Tazuna in," the Hokage asked one of the guards, who disappeared and returned with an old man in threadbare clothes that was drinking sake from a jug.

"These are the guys you're going to have escort me back to Nami no Kuni," the old man asked querulously. "They look pretty unreliable to me, especially the midget in the orange with the dumb look on his face."

"Oi," Naruto snarled as he snatched a kunai from his pouch and sent it flying at the old man. The blade passed between his legs just a hair's breath below the groin and embedded in the wall behind him. "I won't take abuse like that, you old drunk, not even if you're the client!"

"Naruto, don't threaten the client," Iruka thundered.

"I'll treat him the same way he treats me," the blonde shouted back.

"Calm down everyone," Kakashi interjected loudly as he closed his book and returned it to one of his vest pockets. "I assure you, Tazuna-san, that my team will be able to handle the mission and I'll be there too, so you'll have a jounin as well."

"I guess I can accept that," Tazuna replied nervously, glancing over at where Naruto and Iruka were still arguing.

"We'll meet in two hours at the village gates," Kakashi ordered. "You three make sure to pack your full field kit and supplies for at least a week's travel."

* * *

Naruto bounced along the road, his jacket open to reveal the black shirt underneath in an attempt to enjoy the heat of the day. This was the first time he'd ever traveled outside of the village and the blonde was determined to make it a memorable experience. He didn't even mind the presence of the old drunk who insisted on complaining every step of the way.

_That's odd_, Naruto thought as he saw a puddle of water ahead, ignoring the incessant stream of chattering from Sakura. _It hasn't rained for weeks, so why is there a puddle here…_

The answer to his unspoken question came as Kakashi walked past the puddle and two shinobi leapt out. They wrapped a razor sharp chain around the jounin, pulling it tight and slicing him to pieces. Naruto stood there frozen for a moment as the pair moved to attack Tazuna. Sasuke threw a kunai at the chain where it hung between the two ninja's gauntlets. The blade pinned the chain to a tree and slowed them enough for Naruto to gather his wits and draw his blades. The attackers detached the chain with a quick, practiced motion and charged the genin. Just as Sasuke and Naruto were about to engage, the two mysterious ninja were grabbed from behind and had their heads bashed together, knocking them out.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura stammered from where she'd taken a defensive position in front of their client. "I thought you'd been …"

"Just a little deception, Sakura," the jounin said as he pulled a length of strong wire from his pouch and tied the two attackers to a nearby tree. "I noticed them hiding in the puddle and decided to see who their target was. Not very smart of them to hide in a puddle on a hot day when we haven't had rain recently. So, Tazuna-san, would you care to explain why you've been lying to us? These two are the Oni Kyoudai, C-Rank nukenin from Kirgakure and there were obviously after you."

Tazuna dropped to his knees and assumed a pleading position as he answered, "Please forgive me! I didn't have the money for a higher ranked mission request since Nami no Kuni is so poor and I didn't think Gatou had hired ninja to stop us…"

"Why don't you calm down and start from the beginning? Then we can decide what to do about this," Kakashi suggested as he finished securing the Oni Kyoudai and moved over to join the rest of the group.

"Very well. Nami no Kuni has always been a fairly important stopping point on the trade routes and has been known for its fishing," Tazuna began. "Several years back, a man named Gatou began buying up all the smaller shipping companies or running them out of business until he held a monopoly on the sea routes. He strangled the trade coming into Nami no Kuni, so we decided to build a bridge to the mainland. That's where I come in, since I'm the greatest bridge builder in the Elemental countries. But Gatou wasn't going to sit back and take us destroying his monopoly lightly and he started hiring thugs to discourage us. Most of Nami no Kuni is terrified of what he might do, but I will finish my bridge! Please, Kakashi-san, you have to help me or my beautiful daughter and wonderful grandson will be left all alone in the world and at the mercy of Gatou's thugs." Tazuna's eyes seemed to grow shiny with tears as he pleaded with the ninja, making him leek even more pathetic.

"Oi, we took the job," Naruto said. "I say we finish it. So what if there's a few things that we didn't know about beforehand. That's why we have a jounin-sensei."

"The dobe's right," Sasuke admitted grudgingly. "I say we finish the mission."

"Well, if Sasuke-kun wants to go on…" Sakura added, shrugging in agreement.

"Looks like we'll be sticking around then, Tazuna-san," Kakashi stated, looking proudly at his students.

* * *

"This is as far as I can take you," the boatman said as he pulled up to the small deserted dock.

"I appreciate this," Tazuna told the man, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "I know how much you're risking by doing this. Go ahead and get going. No need to risk yourself more than necessary."

The group disembarked from the small boat and crossed the dock into the wooded area on the interior of the island. Naruto was starting to wonder exactly what he had gotten everyone involved in if it had the common people as scared as the boatman was. _Man, this forest is starting to creep me out_, the blonde thought as he looked around the underbrush. It was warmer here than in the woods around Konoha, which was reflected in unfamiliar trees and a much denser undergrowth. _Wait, what was that_, Naruto thought as he threw a kunai into the bushes.

"Naruto what the hell are you doing," Sakura demanded. "You scared me half to death and over what?" Sakura stomped over to a bush and shoved the branches aside to reveal a white rabbit shivering below a kunai embedded in the tree behind it. "You just attacked a poor bunny. Oh, come here, baby, I won't let this orange idiot hurt you again."

"That rabbit's got a winter coat…" Naruto said slowly as both he and Sasuke looked to the jounin.

"It had to be a kawarimi," Kakashi told them while scanning the surrounding forest. "That rabbit's been kept in a cage or it would have its summer coat already. Be on guard, everybody, it looks like we have another ninja on our hands….Down!"

Naruto stood frozen as a loud buzzing sound approached. He turned to see a huge blade spinning through the air heading directly towards the group. The others had dropped to the ground and ducked under the blade's path while Naruto stood there with a strange smile on his face. He raised a hand as Kakashi cried out in warning just in time to see the sword bounce off to the side and stick in a nearby tree like it had careened off some invisible object in mid-air.

_Whew, I'm glad that worked_ , Naruto thought. _Still takes too long to harden the air though. I'll have to work on that before we get hit by another surprise attack_.

"So, this is what the old drunk managed to find as protection," a voice called out as a shinobi in light gray flipped through the air to land next to the sword, casually pulling it free from the wood. "A jounin and three brats."

"Momoichi Zabuza," Kakashi said out of nowhere as he rose to his feet. "A-Rank nukenin from Kirigakure, also known as the Demon of the Mist. I can't say I'm all that surprised after the Oni Kyoudai."

"Hmm, Sharingan no Kakashi," Zabuza chuckled as he scratched his chin, which was hidden under bandages along with the lower half of his face. "It'll be a rather nice feather in my cap to take out a famous shinobi like you."

"You three stay back and protect Tazuna," Kakashi ordered as he lifted his hitai-ate off his left eye.

"Pulling out your Sharingan already? I should feel honored," the nukenin chuckled as he planted his sword in the ground before him and began making hand seals. "Let's see how well that eye of yours works now! Ninpou: Kirigakure no jutsu!" A thick, heavy mist descended on the area, completely obscuring the group's vision beyond a few feet.

"Leave this to me," Kakashi ordered. "If things start to look bad, take Tazuna and run."

None of the genin argued with their sensei's order, feeling the impact of the nukenin's killing intent flooding the area. Zabuza's voice floated eerily out of the mist, "In Kirgakure we specialize in Silent Killing, rather than the flashy effects you tree huggers prefer. Jugular, clavicle, spine, heart, lungs, liver …. All these areas can be struck to provide a swift kill." A slight whistling noise came through the mist and Naruto turned just in time to see Kakashi block the swing with a kunai. The jounin disengaged and stabbed the nukenin, who dissolved into water.

"Mizu bunshin," Kakashi said shortly as he moved away. The mist began to clear again, allowing the three genin to see Zabuza slash though the jounin to likewise find it a Mizu bunshin.

"So your Sharingan was able to copy my Mizu Bunshin no jutsu even through the mist," Zabuza commented, leaping backwards onto the water to avoid Kakashi as he reappeared. The nukenin smirked as the jounin landed in front of him and disappeared in another splash of water. The cycloptic jounin was taken by surprise as the nukenin rose from the water behind him, finishing off a set of hand seals. "Suiton: Suiro no jutsu!" The water rose up to form a shell around Kakashi and began to fill in until he was encased in a sphere of water attached to Zabuza's hand.

"Hah, the great Sharingan no Kakashi falls prey to my water prison," the nukenin laughed harshly. "Now that you're out of the way, I can get rid of your brats and finish off the old man. With a single handed seal, a Mizu bunshin rose from the ground by the lake and advanced on the group, his zanbatou drawn and gleaming in the light.

"We should run away," Sakura said shakily, her teeth chattering from fear. "He caught Kakashi-sensei, what more could we do?"

"I'm not leaving," Naruto declared, drawing his blades and stepping forward. "I won't leave Kakashi-sensei even if it costs me my life."

"I'm not going anywhere either," Sasuke growled. "I'm not going to run from some two-bit nukenin, not when he's in the way of my ambition."

"Right then," Naruto nodded. "Sakura, you stay and protect Tazuna-san. Bastard, can you pelt the real Zabuza with your fireballs?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he gauged the distance and shook his head. The fireballs have a limited range before they disperse," he answered. "I'd have to be at the edge of the water to hit him with either the Housenka of Gokyakku no jutsu."

Naruto closed his eyes in thought for a second, trying to ignore the pressure created by the advancing bunshin. A flicker of memory came to mind from a conversation with the Hokage about how the elements interacted. A foxy smile spread across the blonde's face as he turned to his teammate. "Follow in my wake," Naruto told him. "I'll get the bunshin, then you do your Gokyakku no jutsu."

"I'm not sure it'll reach him," Sasuke grumbled moodily, looking at Naruto suspiciously.

"Don't worry," Naruto replied with another grin. "I'll make sure it gets there."

Sasuke shrugged, but followed when Naruto suddenly slid forwards on his air cushion and performed a double slash with his kodachi, sending two blades of wind at the Mizu bunshin. Zabuza's bunshin was unable to defend as the wind blades tore through him and reduced him to water. Naruto wheeled in a circle, sheathing his blades as he came around behind Sasuke who was already running through hand seals. "Katon: Gokyakku no jutsu!" the Uchiha called out as he took a deep breath and blew out a massive fireball.

From behind the raven-haired boy, Naruto ran through the seals of a jutsu of his own, "Fuuton: Kazenami no jutsu!" A massive gale of wind whipped across the shore and over the water, catching the fireball and feeding the wind chakra into it. The fireball swelled in size and intensity, leaving a streak of boiling water steaming from the surface as it sped towards the nukenin.

Zabuza saw the oncoming roil of flame and leapt out of the way, breaking the jutsu holding Kakashi prisoner. When the fireball exploded, a cloud of steam obscured the genin's vision for a moment but they saw Kakashi and Zabuza forming the same seals rapidly once it cleared. "Suiton: Suiryudon no jutsu!" the men called out in unison as two water dragons rose from the surface of the water and collided with each other in mutual annihilation.

"That eye of yours," Zabuza asked, "does it allow you to read the future?" Zabuza was now panting with exertion as he glared at the one-eyed jounin.

"The only future I see for you is death," Kakashi intoned as his hands flew through another long string of seals before the nukenin could react. "Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu!" A huge wall of water rose from the pond and slammed into Zabuza, sending him bouncing off the trees. The nukenin struggled to his feet, but suddenly collapsed with three senbon protruding from his neck.

A lithe form in a kimono and featureless mask dropped to the ground next to the body as Kakashi and the others approached cautiously. "I must thank you for your assistance, Kakashi-san," the stranger said in a light and soft voice. "I have been chasing this nukenin for quite some time and your battle gave me the opportunity I have been seeking to eliminate him."

"So you're an Oinin from Kiri," Kakashi stated. "I'm glad we could be of service."

"I'm sure Kiri will reward you well for your assistance once I file my report," the oinin said while hefting Zabuza's body and jumped off into the trees.

"Well that was cheap," Naruto grumbled after the oinin. "Kakashi-sensei already has the bastard beaten and he steps in to claim the defeat? Not very fair if you ask me…"

Naruto broke off as a loud thump was heard. He turned to see the jounin lying on the ground looking at them weakly. He reached up with a shaky hand and pulled his hitai-ate down to cover his eye, which was an odd red one with three little marks swirling around the pupil.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you all right," Naruto asked, drawing the attention of the others to the downed jounin.

"I'll be fine," the jounin wheezed. "I just used a little too much chakra in that fight. I'm going to pass out soon and will probably be unconscious for two or three days. Get us to Tazuna's house and secure the area. With that, the jounin went limp.

* * *

Kakashi wound up unconscious for almost five days in total, leaving the genin at loose ends for the majority of the time. Tsunami and Inari, Tazuna's daughter and grandson, adapted to the ninja's arrival in different ways. Tsunami was cautiously hopeful about their presence, as mush as one who has had their hopes shattered in the past can be, and made the four of them welcome. Inari was outspoken about the futility of their presence, which caused more than one argument between him and Naruto. The blonde dearly wanted to beat some sense into the boy, but refrained so as not to upset their client.

The house was fairly isolated from the village, which made it easier to secure. The household was restricted to a small number of safe paths, while the rest of the area was littered with traps set up by the bored genin. Naruto took it upon himself to accompany Tazuna when he headed out to work on the bridge. This gave the blonde a first hand view of the crushing poverty that had become the norm in Nami no Kuni. The shops were much like you would find anywhere, but were virtually empty of merchandise or food. The bridge truly seemed to be the only hope these people had.

Kakashi called the genin to his room shortly after he woke up. "I need the three of you to be aware," he said, "that the oinin we encountered was a fake."

"Of course," Sakura exclaimed. "I thought something was odd. Oinin are supposed to destroy the bodies of their targets on the spot to prevent any secrets from being discovered through examination of the corpse."

"that's right, Sakura," Kakashi nodded approvingly. "Plus the oinin was using senbon, hardly the most lethal of weapons. If used with enough precision, though, a near death state can be induced."

"So that oinin was someone else working with Zabuza," Naruto summarized. "That means he'll be back again and will probably have his ally along to help."

"We do have some breathing space," Kakashi explained. "I managed to injure Zabuza and being placed in a near death state will take a significant toll on his body. At the minimum, we have about a week to prepare ourselves. Longer if his ally is not as skilled with medical jutsu as I fear. I'm going to plan on a worst case scenario, though, so I'll have you three training starting tomorrow."

The next morning, Kakashi mounted a pair of crutches and led the three genin out into the woods. "Today," he said, "we're going to practice climbing trees."

"What good will that do," Sasuke muttered darkly. "We can already climb trees."

"Ah, but you'll be doing it without the use of your hands," the jounin explained, his eye curving into a smile. "It's fairly simple, since all you have to do is channel chakra to your feet and cling to the tree as you move." Kakashi demonstrated by walking up the tree, crutches and all. "Too little and you won't stick, too much and it will blow you off. The trick is to find the right balance and maintain it. This is an important chakra control exercise that is necessary before learning higher level jutsu." He reached into his pouch and pulled out three kunai, throwing them to the ground in front of each genin. "Now I want you to try this. Use the kunai to keep track of the height you make on the tree."

Each of them picked up a kunai and turned to face a different tree. Sakura moved over to her tree and after a minute of concentration was soon walking up easily. Sasuke took the tree at a run, making it several feet up before losing concentration and falling back to the ground. Naruto just stood there and stared at his tree, thinking furiously despite the itchy spot on his back where he knew Kakashi was staring at him. _This is a lot like the water walking exercise_, Naruto thought, _except you use you chakra to stick instead of repel. So I just make a pad of sticky chakra along the bottom of my foot…_

The blonde placed his foot on the tree and began to move up slowly, since he made the pad extremely sticky at first. As he moved, though, Naruto decreased the cling until he found himself able to move up the trunk freely. He started skipping until he reached the very top and repeated the process on the way down, pleased to be able to defy gravity like that. When he reached the ground again, the blonde found his teammates and sensei looking at him oddly.

"What? Is there something on my face," Naruto asked in confusion.

"No, Naruto," Kakashi replied with a sigh. "We're just a little surprised at how quickly you mastered this exercise."

"Hehe, this one was easy," Naruto chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "Learning to walk on water was a lot harder."

"You already know how to do that," Kakashi asked with an eyebrow cocked in surprise.

"Yeah, I figured it out a while ago, after listening to Iruka-sensei talk about advanced chakra control," Naruto replied boastfully. "It really helped with something I was having trouble mastering."

"I see. Naruto, why don't you go wait for me at the house," Kakashi suggested. "I'll take you along to guard the bridge until these two have the exercise down."

"But I want to train too, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto whined.

"Sasuke and Sakura need far more work than you do," Kakashi said sternly. "Your chakra control is already significantly advanced if you've mastered this exercise and the water walking. They need time to catch up."

Naruto didn't retort, but he was not very happy with his sensei right now. So what if he was ahead of the others in chakra control? He still needed to improve other things and he'd been hoping to learn a jutsu or two that weren't of his own creation. Not that his original jutsu were bad; they were just limited to Fuuton because of his strong wind affinity. Kakashi gave Sasuke and Sakura their instructions and turned to hobble away, obviously expecting the blonde to follow.

* * *

"I hate being weak like this," Zabuza complained as Haku sponged the sweat from his brow. Even more of the nukenin's body was covered in bandages than usual.

"If you hadn't played around so much, Sharingan no Kakashi wouldn't have done so much damage," Haku chastised. "He is a very strong opponent and you underestimated his skill. You should have let me come in to help or had me take care of the genin."

"I'd fell a lot better if you'd quit telling me 'I told you so,' damn it," the nukenin growled at his companion. The younger shinobi had removed the mask that had fooled the Konoha ninja so easily and was wearing a much nicer kimono while tending to Zabuza's injuries. "That near death state thing you did may have let you pull me out of there, but the side effects are a bitch."

"As your tool, I couldn't very well leave you there, Zabuza-sama," Haku replied with a shrug. "It pains me terribly that my actions have contributed to leave you so weak, but that will pass soon enough. I'm going to go out this evening and pick some herbs that I can use to compound a medicine that should speed your recovery."

"Having you train with at medic was one of the best things I could have done," Zabuza sighed. "It's proven to be worth every penny it cost to pay off those debts."

"Hai, Shizune-san was most helpful in furthering my medical knowledge," Haku agreed. "It's a shame that I only had a couple of weeks to study with her before she left to find her master. I'm glad that you're not nearly so much trouble for me as Shizune-san's shishou…"

"Bah," Zabuza grumbled. "You're getting reckless though. Threatening out employer is a bad idea and it was an even worse idea to twist his arm the way you did."

"No one threatens you, Zabuza-sama," Haku said cheerfully. "If he wasn't the one paying us, he wouldn't have survived that incident."

"Well, be careful," the nukenin warned. "A man like that is petty and never forgets those who make him look foolish. You are a valuable tool and I would hate to have to do without your skills and assistance."

"I live only to serve you, Zabuza-sama," Haku murmured, but there was a shadow in the young shinobi's eyes. A conflict of natures that was slowly tearing Haku apart. "I should be back in the morning. I will prepare your medicine then."


	8. Chapter 8

Naruto lay on the ground panting with exertion. He'd spent the day watching the construction of the bridge creep forward bit by bit and had to see the frustration Tazuna felt grow as more and more workers quit out of fear of Gatou's retribution against their families. Naruto had helped out by making thirty Kage Bunshins and having them do the heavy lifting and menial jobs so that the remaining workers could concentrate on things that required skilled labor. After everyone had gone home for the evening, the blonde and Kakashi had returned to the house for dinner only to note Sasuke and Sakura's utter exhaustion. The blonde ate quickly and excused himself in order to get in some training of his own, since his jounin-sensei seemed to want to keep him on the level he was at.

That brought him to why he was flat on his back in the middle of what used to be a pristine clearing in the forest. Playing with the creation of his newest wind jutsu had wreaked havoc on the vegetation and left huge gouges carved out of the soil. _At least it seems to work,_ Naruto thought gleefully_. Definitely not one to use around allies, but it's going to be pretty devastating at full power_. A rustle in the underbrush made Naruto sit up quickly and scan the area, alert as he reached for one of his blades.

"Who's there," the blonde called out loudly. It wouldn't do at all to slice up one of the locals who was out foraging or one of his team that might be looking for him.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you," a soft voice replied as a pretty girl in a kimono stepped out into the clearing carrying a small basket loaded with various herbs. "I was out gathering some herbs to help a sick friend."

"Ah, sorry," Naruto apologized, sheathing his sword and scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "I've been a bit jumpy lately, but that's no excuse to threaten a pretty lady like you."

The girl blushed cutely and Naruto couldn't help but feel a flush creeping up hi face as well. "So you're looking for herbs," he asked quickly before he did anything too embarrassing.

"Yes, a friend of mine is very ill and I'm collecting herbs to make some medicine to help him," the girl answered with a soft smile that had Naruto's stomach fluttering. "He's a very important person to me and I want to help him as best I can."

"I can understand that," Naruto nodded. "You're like me in that you'd do anything for your precious people. That's why I'm a ninja; so that I can protect everyone important to me. Well, there are other reasons too, but that's the big important one. Do you want some help finding your herbs?"

"No thank you," the girl smiled, "but it has been a pleasure talking to you…"

"Ah, I forgot to introduce myself," Naruto admittedly sheepishly. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konohagakure!"

"It's nice to meet you, Naruto-kun," the girl said with a small laugh. "My name is Haku and I'm afraid I have to be going now."

"That's too bad, Haku-chan, cause you're a lot nicer than most of the people that I get to talk to," Naruto said sadly.

"That's very nice of you to say," Haku smiled, "but you should know that I'm really a boy."

"Eh! What are you talking about, Haku-chan," Naruto exclaimed. "Of course you're a girl. You don't have an Adam's apple, your center of gravity is too high and your hips are shaped wrong to be a boy."

Haku stood there, mouth open to deny the blonde's claim, but stopped and took a deep breath. "That's very perceptive of you, Naruto-kun," she said in an odd tone that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. "Most people believe that I'm just a pretty young boy when I tell them, but you saw right through it."

"Well, I kinda know a lot about a how a girl's body is put together for a jutsu I made that's really effective against perverts," Naruto admitted with a foxy smile. "I don't know how many guys know that a woman's center of gravity is higher cause of the breasts, but it was a pain for me. Then there were the hips. I never realized exactly how different a girl's hips were hinged until I had to walk as one. Fell down on my face with every other damned step."

"Naruto-kun, I'm afraid that I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," Haku said in confusion, staring at the blonde.

"Yeah, I wasn't making much sense was I? Well, I have this specialized henge no jutsu that I worked out, only it's not really a henge cause I actually become…it'll be easier to show you what I mean," Naruto babbled before making a seal and calling out, "Oiroke no jutsu!" A puff of smoke enveloped the blonde and when it cleared, a very different figure stood there. A young girl with smooth skin and generous proportions with twin blonde pigtails stood there in the orange outfit.

"An impressive henge, Naruto-kun, but…" Haku was cut off when Naruto grabbed the girl's hand and pressed it against what should have been an illusory chest. "That's…that's impossible!"

"That's what I thought too," Naruto said with a gin as he let the jutsu fade. "It's kind of a weird thing that happens every time I henge, that I can actually turn into what I'm trying to look like. Hehe, the girl disguise made it a lot easier for me to go shopping back home, though, so I'm not going to complain."

"Why would you have problems shopping in you home village, Naruto-kun," Haku asked in confusion.

Naruto looked down at his feet, no longer looking Haku in the eyes and replied, "Let's just say three are reasons. Not good ones, but they're there."

Haku looked down at the blonde curiously before taking a step back. "I'm afraid that I really do have to go now, Naruto-kun. You should probably go and get some rest as well."

"Will I get to see you again, Haku-chan," Naruto asked hopefully. "I don't have a lot of friends, so it's always great to make another one."

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun," Haku answered with a smile. "I have a feeling that we will definitely meet again."

* * *

Naruto stumbled back to Tazuna's house in the early hours of the morning, stifling a deep yawn. He'd practiced late into the evening and had made some real progress after his talk with Haku-chan. The strength of his reaction to the girl took the blonde a little by surprise. Sure she was a pretty girl, he was a healthy teenaged boy and she wasn't one of the vapid fangirls he'd known back in Konoha. Still, why was he so drawn to her? _Maybe it's her eyes_, Naruto thought. She had the same kind of pain in her eyes that I do, so maybe it's because she's someone who can actually relate to me…

"Naruto! Where have you been," came the vicious yell of his pink haired teammate as the blonde entered the house. "Kakashi-sensei was looking for you hours ago and Tsunami-san wouldn't let us have breakfast until you got back!"

"Not my problem," Naruto shrugged as he slid into one of the seats at the table, jostling Sasuke on the way. "It just means that Tsunami-san is nice enough to wait to make sure that I get something to eat before letting you gluttons loose on the food."

"You're the only glutton here, dobe," Sasuke said with a glare at the blonde for daring to touch him. "We've seen you eat."

"You don't know shit about me, bastard," Naruto growled, pushing his chair away from the table and standing up with small currents of air eddying around him as his chakra responded to the anger.

"Maa, calm down, Naruto," Kakashi said as he entered the room with his nose buried in his book. "You don't want to spoil the wonderful meal Tsunami-san made for us, do you?"

Naruto had to fight an overwhelming rage that threatened to overcome him. A part of the boy had always thought that his genin team would be like family; working together and treating each other with respect. Instead, his teammates constantly belittled and insulted him and now his jounin-sensei wanted Naruto to shrug off the comments? "I seem to have lost my appetite," he grated as he pushed past Kakashi and headed for the bathing area.

The blonde carefully set his weapons on a high shelf and stripped down to scrub the evidence of the night's training and sleeping in the woods from his clothes and body. Once he was thoroughly cleansed, Naruto slipped into the heated pool and let his tension flow out of his body. _Why do they have to treat me like this_, he asked himself as he wallowed in self-pity_. It's not like I don't acknowledge them, so why can't they return the favor?_

"Naruto, mind if I come in for a moment," Kakashi's voice said through the doorway.

"Why? So you can get off by looking at an adolescent boy in the bath," Naruto replied snarkily. The door slid open and he could make out the gangly form of the tall jounin as he moved across the room and sat on a stool with his back to the blonde.

"I want to get to the bottom of what's bothering you," Kakashi said seriously. "The three of you are getting worse and you're about ready to commit violence against your teammates."

"So naturally, I'm the one to blame, right," Naruto growled. "Oh, blame it on the demon brat, just like everyone else in Konoha."

"I chose to talk to you first because I thought you might be more reasonable than Sasuke or Sakura would about the conversation," Kakashi said.

"Fine. What's bothering me is Sasuke-teme's insults and the way Sakura supports everything he says just because he said it," Naruto answered while trying to maintain his calm. "The bastard can't stand it when anyone can do something better than him. There was one time at the Academy where he was showing off some trick throws with kunai and shuriken when a girl from the year ahead of us came over. I think her name's Tenten or something like that. She told him that he wasn't too bad for a beginner and did some really awesome throws with kunai that made Sasuke look like a joke. Instead of asking her to show him how she did them, the bastard got mad and attacked her. He might have hurt her if one of the teachers hadn't gotten involved."

"Well, it's only natural that he would get mad at being made fun of," the jounin temporized.

"That's another problem," Naruto said. "Everyone always makes excuses for Sasuke like no one can admit that an Uchiha could ever do anything wrong. He's the favorite of the village and the Council and they've spoiled him rotten. The bastard has no idea what it feels like to have to work his ass off just to learn something. No, everything he's ever wanted has been banded to him on a silver platter. Everything I have, I've worked my ass off for and I won't sit still while fagbait like him gets all moody because I'm better than him at something."

Kakashi was silent as he pondered what the blonde had told him. Naruto hoped that the man would actually think about what he had to say, but didn't hold much confidence that he would. Kakashi had shown that he shared the Uchiha blind spot on many occasions, so why would he change his attitude now? The boy let himself sink deeper into the water, carefully manipulating his wind chakra into the water to create small spinning tornadoes in the bath like jets in a Jacuzzi. Naruto had only seen one the single time he'd visited jiji in the Hokage residence and had immediately thought it was one of the coolest things he'd ever seen.

"I'll see what I can do, Naruto," Kakashi said as he rose to his feet. "I'd never really thought about things the way you brought them up, but then I'd never really thought much about your generation. I wasn't planning on being a jounin-sensei, but when the Hokage insisted, I had to give you three a chance. All of you have a lot of potential, but unless we can do something about your teamwork, potential is all it will ever be. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go have a little chat with Sakura."

* * *

Eight days after Kakashi had gotten out of his sickbed, Naruto found himself waking up as the morning sun had nearly turned to noonday sun. _Why did they let me sleep_, the blonde wondered. He threw his clothes on and headed downstairs to find Tsunami bustling about the kitchen.

"Where is everyone, Tsunami-san," Naruto asked.

"Ah, Kakashi-san took your teammates to the bridge with otou-san this morning," the young woman replied. "Kakashi-san said that you deserved a day off to rest since you've been holding down the bodyguard duties far more than your share."

"A day off, eh," Naruto mused, scratching the side of his head. He hadn't expected this, even if the jounin had discussed their behavior problems with his teammates and the three had begun to get along again. "I guess that means I can get some of my personal training in," the blonde declared.

"Don't you want some…lunch," Tsunami asked too late as the blonde had already run out the door.

Naruto headed deep into the woods, but found himself coming to an abrupt halt as something caught his eye. One of the traps he and the others had laid upon their arrival had been sprung! There was no corpse, but there was a copious amount of blood on the ground. Enough blood to indicate that more than one person had been here and injured by the trap. _Who would be out here_, Naruto wondered. _The only thing in this part of the woods is…Tazuna's house!_

Naruto found himself running at full speed back to the house, not even noticing that he was jumping even further and faster than normal. When he spotted the house and the small fishing dock in front of it, Tsunami was being held by an unwashed and bloodied man with a sword held in a vaguely threatening manner. Inari was struggling against a second man who looked like he was favoring his left leg. _Looks like the brat found a wounded area to exploit before they got hold of him_, Naruto thought as he maneuvered to approach unseen.

"Fuuton: Uzukazekiri no jutsu," Naruto said softly as he ran through hand seals and sent a group of spinning, invisible blades of wind rushing at the two thugs. It took a lot of concentration to control the angle and direction of the blades as they flew, but it was a lot easier than it had been the last time he'd tried it. Naruto shoved that mystery aside as the swords of the two bandits suddenly fell apart into inch long pieces of steel.

Naruto made a Kage Bunshin as he launched himself forward to face the thug who was holding Tsunami-. Said thug was so busy staring at what used to be his sword that he didn't spot the orange blur coming until it was too late. A snap kick to the jaw sent him stumbling back and a knife hind to the back of the neck as Naruto moved past him sent the thug down for the count. A quick glance showed that the Kage Bunshin had dealt with the tough who had been holding Inari just as easily.

"Did they hurt you, Tsunami-san," Naruto asked gently only to receive a shake of the head as an answer.

"Oi, you're late," Inari shouted as he ran up to check on his mother.

"Baka, don't you know that the hero always shows up late," Naruto scoffed. Inari smiled at the blonde while Tsunami laughed in relief.

"Naruto-niisan, if they came here after us…" Inari started, a worried look on his young face.

"Then they've probably gone to the bridge," Naruto finished. He glanced over to see his Kage Bunshin had just finished tying up the two thugs and dispersed itself. He blinked for a minute as he suddenly had memories of beating up the other thug. _That's the second time that's happened_, the blonde mused an shook his head to return his thoughts to more immediate matters. "I've gotta go to the bridge and help the others. These two shouldn't give you any more problems for now, but it would be best to hole up in the house until we get back."

The blonde turned and dashed down the path towards the town and the bridge that was being built. The town was deserted as Naruto passed through it, with the townsfolk lying low until the danger was over. A thick layer of mist covered the middle section of the bridge and sounds of fighting could be heard from the inside. _Time to even the odds a little_, Naruto thought. His hands raced through seals as he gathered a large amount of chakra, calling out, "Fuuton: Kazenami no jutsu!" An incredibly strong wind lashed across the bridge, driving the mist out over the water and revealing the battle to the blonde.

As he expected, Sakura had taken Tazuna off to the side and was standing guard while Kakashi fought Zabuza. Sasuke was a good distance from the main battle fighting the fake oinin, who had surrounded the brooding boy with a dome of mirrors that seemed to be made of ice. _Kakashi-sensei can hold his own against the eyebrowless freak_, the blonde decided_. It'd probably be best to help Sasuke-teme against the other one_. With that, Naruto dashed forward and slipped between the mirrors to come to a stop by the Uchiha's side.

"Miss me," the blonde asked cheekily, his eyes darting from mirror to mirror as the fake oinin's image shifted position.

"You idiot," Sasuke hissed, turning his head to glare at Naruto. That was when the blonde noticed the Uchiha's eyes were the same kind of red as Kakashi's hidden eye, except that Sasuke only had two things swirling around the pupil. "Now you're trapped in here like I am. You should have stayed outside so we could have attacked from two directions."

"Feh," Naruto scoffed. "I never liked doing things the easy way. Besides those mirrors are made of ice, aren't they? Why don't you just melt them?"

"I haven't had a chance," Sasuke growled. "He can form senbon made of ice at will and send them flying at me any time I try and start the seals for a jutsu."

"Give it another try," Naruto urged. "I'll take care of the senbon." Sasuke nodded and began to run through seals while the blonde spun his wind chakra around the pair of them in a mini twister, which he dropped as the Uchiha finished his jutsu.

"Katon: Housenka no jutsu!" A large ball of fire shot from the other boy's mouth and impacted one of the mirrors. Much to the genin's dismay, the mirror survived the blast completely unscathed.

"My Makyou Hyoushou aren't so fragile as to be damaged by a weak katon jutsu like that," the oinin said in a soft voice that was eerily familiar to the blonde. "My chakra reinforces them and prevents them from being boiled away."

Naruto stared at the masked figure, desperately trying to pin down the nagging sense of familiarity that he couldn't figure out. His focus on this was the reason he missed seeing a hail of ice senbon come shooting at him from one of the other mirrors. He did notice, however, when Sasuke shoved him to the side and took the full force of the strike himself before collapsing to the ground. Naruto moved over and cradled the fallen boy in his arms as the Uchiha gasped in pain.

"Damn it, bastard, why did you take that hit for me," Naruto demanded through teary eyes.

"My body just moved on its own," Sasuke smirked before coughing and growing still and cold.

Naruto stared down at his fallen teammate in horror as the truth slowly sank in. Sasuke was dead and he was dead because of him. _Damn you, bastard, why did you have to go and do something like this_, Naruto raged internally. _Why couldn't we just go on hating each other like before?_

"I'm sorry for your loss," the oinin said in that soft voice. "But as a ninja we should be prepared to die at anytime. Now I'm afraid for Zabuza-sama's sake, I must eliminate you as well…"

"Shut up," Naruto shouted as he laid the Uchiha down and rose, turning to face the fake oinin. "I never liked Sasuke all that much, but he was my teammate and he deserved better than to die here like this." The blonde's hands began flashing through the seals of a jutsu he'd been working on, but had never quite perfected as the oinin started showering him with the icy needles. Despite being struck multiple times, Naruto doggedly continued on while the wind began to die around him. "Fuuton: Arashi no Me no jutsu!"

The preternatural calm lasted only for a minute before the winds began circling around the blonde, building into a howling gale that kept growing stronger. The oinin had a startled posture as the ice mirrors were caught by the ever increasing gale and began to slide away, losing the dome shape. As the power of the storm continued to grow, the mirrors were lifted wholly into the air and smashed against each other into pieces as the moved around the blonde in an ever increasing spiral. The oinin abandoned the mirrors and had to resort to sticking to the bridge with a substantial amount of chakra to avoid being swept away.

Naruto watched from the safety of the center of his jutsu, the proverbial eye of the storm he'd created and drew on of his blades. The blonde charged the sword with his wind chakra, rubbing it together to increase the friction and sharpness of the chakra while maintaining the chakra to keep the storm going. When the blade was virtually glowing, Naruto jumped forward and let himself be pulled aloft into the winds, using subtle shifts of his chakra to line himself up so that he was on course to collide with the oinin as he rode the spiral. The blonde came around, taking the oinin by surprise as he let loose the chakra in his blade in one massive slash. The force of the blow and the winds of the storm sent the oinin crashing into the side wall of the bridge in a spray of blood from the torso. The featureless mask shattered, revealing the face of Naruto's opponent.

"Haku-chan," Naruto whispered in disbelief as he cut off the chakra maintaining the storm and came to land several feet away from the girl. "You were the oinin who saved Zabuza? You killed Sasuke?

"I'd hoped you'd never have to find out, Naruto-kun," Haku said in between bloody coughs. The blow that had struck her and shattered the mask had torn a sizable gash down the center of her chest and was bleeding freely. "I really didn't want to hurt you or your teammates, but I must obey Zabuza-sama's orders as his tool."

"But why, Haku-chan," Naruto asked, tears streaming down his face as he dropped his blade and knelt down beside the kunoichi. "You're such a kind, gentle and nice person. Why do you follow the orders of someone like him?"

"Because Zabuza-sama is my precious person," Haku replied simply. "He acknowledged me and took me in when I would have otherwise died. You see, Naruto-kun, I was born in a small cabin in the wilderness of Muzu no Kuni. My mother was the survivor of one of the purges that killed off anyone who possessed a bloodline limit and she'd successfully hidden that fact from everyone including my father. My ability to manipulate Hyouton came from my bloodline and it developed when I was six years old. I thought nothing of it and played with my ability until one day my father found out. He dragged me home, threw me at my mother and began yelling at her for deceiving him. I don't remember exactly what was said, but it ended with my father killing my mother with the wood axe for possessing a bloodline."

"That's horrible," Naruto gasped, taking the fallen kunoichi's hand in his own.

"He tried to turn the axe against me, still covered in my mother's blood. "Haku shuddered and coughed more blood up as she continued, "I reacted purely on instinct and lashed out at my father with my Hyouton, killing him. I don't remember much after that, except for running as far away as I could. I wound up living on the streets of Mizu no Kuni's capitol, scrounging for food and avoiding the slavers. I pretended to be a boy, since all the street girls tended to disappear and never be heard from again. That's when Zabuza-sama found me.

"It was winter and I was freezing and starving to death when he first saw me. I don't know what made him stop, but he asked me if I wanted to live, to have a purpose. He offered me a place and training if I became his tool. I have never regretted my decision, eve if I had to hide the fact that I am a girl from him."

A loud chirping nose, like the sound of hundreds of birds cut through the air and Naruto turned to he his jounin-sensei hunched over one arm that was crackling with electricity. Zabuza was a short distance away being restrained by a pack of dogs wearing happi coats and Konoha hitai-ates. As Kakashi began to charge at the immobilized nukenin, Naruto felt Haku's hand suddenly leave his own. The blonde turned to see the girl disappear into a mirror she'd conjured. Naruto jumped to his feet to try and stop her, but he was too late as he heard a cry of pain from behind him.

Haku lay on the ground near Kakashi and Zabuza, bleeding heavily as the ice mirror she'd used to travel disappeared. The cycloptic jounin had his arm through the former Kiri-nin's chest while Haku wept in horror and pain. Naruto felt his heart break for her as he slowly walked towards the group.

"Well, it looks like you interlopers have managed to save me some money," A loud, arrogant voice said. The ninja turned to see a short, fat man surrounded by a small army of thugs and bandits disembarking from a boat at the end of the bridge. "These mercenaries are much cheaper than ninja and that bastard managed to fail in his mission." Gatou gave Zabuza's body a harsh kick that barely shifted the corpse. And you, the one who dared to lay your filthy hands on me and tried to do me harm." Gatou kicked Haku, his foot digging into the wound on her chest causing her to cry out in pain.

"Don't you dare touch her, you monster," Naruto growled, covering the distance in the blink of an eye. The blonde knelt down to check on the badly injured kunoichi while Gatou took the opportunity to retreat behind the wall of thugs he'd brought with him.

"Heh, this makes things easier," Gatou laughed cruelly. "Kill all of these pests and the one to bring me Tazuna's head will receive a healthy bonus." The mob of bandits grinned and turned on the shinobi when Kakashi lazily let a kunai fly directly into Gatou's throat, sending the criminal lord falling to the ground gurgling through the upwelling of bright arterial blood.

"Ano, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, "I don't think that was the best idea. Now no one's going to pay them, so they'll try and kill us and loot whatever they can from the village."

"Hmm, you think so," Kakashi asked, his eye curving up into a smile. Naruto was about to respond when a crossbow bolt thunked into the bridge in front of the bandits. The blonde turned to see Inari and a large group of villagers armed with pitchforks and a variety of bows crowding the land end of the bridge. The bandits took a look at the ninja, then at the villagers, then at the corpse of their employer and decided that the smartest action was to get the hell out of there.

Inari ran up to Naruto, running a finger across his nose as he grinned and said, "The hero always shows up late, right Naruto-niisan?" The blonde flashed the kid a grin and turned to check on Haku, tearing strips from the edge of the kimono and his jacket to act as a pressure bandage. He was concentrating so hard on trying to stop the bleeding that he almost didn't hear Sakura walk up behind him.

"Naruto, where's Sasuke-kun," Sakura asked nervously.

Naruto didn't say anything, he just pointed over at where Sasuke lay in the large puddle of water that was all that remained of the ice mirrors. Sakura looked over and made a mewling cry of denial before rushing over to hold the still form of the raven-haired boy.

"What happened," Kakashi asked as he slipped his hitai-ate down over his Sharingan eye.

"Sasuke took the blow to protect me," Naruto replied barely above a whisper. "The bastard said his body moved on its own." The blonde had to fight back a burning in his eyes and a thickness in his throat as he continued his rudimentary first aid. Kakashi didn't say anything, but he let loose a sad sigh. "Anyways," Naruto continued, "we should try and get Haku-chan to a doctor as soon as possible. There's been enough death here today." A quick hand seal created a pair of Kage Bunshin who Naruto directed to build a stretcher.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura yelled in surprise, causing the blonde and the jounin to look over in shock to see the Uchiha moving weakly. Kakashi walked over and examined the boy's wounds.

"All disabling hits," the jounin said calmly. "None of these senbon hit any vital organs and the damage actually inflicted was negligible, although you'll still be pretty weak for a couple of days."

Naruto felt a strange lightness in his chest and was surprised that he felt the same way he did when told Iruka would recover from the damage inflicted by Mizuki. _When did I start considering the bastard a friend_, the blonde wondered as he and a Kage Bunshin carefully lifted Haku onto the stretcher. Another quick seal created more Kage Bunshin to prepare a second conveyance for the injured genin, which he would nee if the broody boy was as enfeebled as he seemed. "Hey," Naruto said to Inari, "I need you to lead me to the doctor. I have to make sure Haku-chan gets some real medical attention before she dies."

"Are you sure," Inari asked, squinting at the girl on the stretcher. "Wasn't she working for the bad guys?"

"The bad guys are gone now," Naruto replied impatiently, "and I'm not going to just let her die."

"Right, niisan, follow me," Inari said as he dashed off towards the village, followed closely by the pair of blondes.


	9. Chapter 9

Naruto stared down at the heavily bandaged girl lying in the bed. She had been pale before, but she looked positively deathlike after all the blood she'd lost. The doctor had needed to do a transfusion and Naruto had been the only one to have a matching blood type. The blonde had been hesitant since no one knew if housing the demon had done anything to his blood that could hurt the girl, but he'd caved after being told that she would die without the transfusion. Thus, Naruto had spent a nice chunk of time over the last week by Haku's bedside with a tube in his arm.

Sasuke had been checked over an the doctor had confirmed Kakashi's diagnosis of minor wounds, recommending some extended bed rest to recover some strength. This left Sakura and the jounin to guard Tazuna and the bridge where construction was fully underway again without the threat of Gatou hanging over their heads. The old man had been extremely grateful to the Konoha shinobi, as had the villagers, and Naruto had overheard him talking with Kakashi about upgrading the mission and how they would handle the payment. It really hadn't occurred to the blonde that the increased danger from the nukenin's presence and Gatou's interference would rate a higher pay scale, but he smiled at the thought of all the ramen the money would buy.

A painful whimper drew Naruto's attention as Haku shifted on the bed, her eyes fluttering open slowly. He held his breath as the girl took in her surroundings and realized exactly what had happened. "Why," she asked, her voice thick with tears she was too dehydrated to shed. "Why couldn't you let me die with Zabuza-sama?"

"Did you really want to die," Naruto asked harshly. "Did you really want to take the coward's way out and avoid having to take responsibility for yourself?" The blonde glared at the girl in the bed causing her to shrink in on herself.

"I have no more purpose in life," Haku replied softly, her eyes avoiding Naruto's intense gaze and noticing for the first time the transfusion tube running between her and Naruto. "I was Zabuza-sama's tool and now that he is gone there is no place in the world for me."

"Then make one," Naruto said fiercely. "Make a place for yourself in the world, no matter what anyone else tries to tell you. Just like I did."

"What…What do you mean," Haku asked with a light cough of pain.

"You told me your story on the bridge, but you never got a chance to listen to mine," Naruto scowled. "You had it tough with what happened to your parents and living on the streets like that, but did you think that you're the only one who's had a rough life? I was orphaned the day I was born and I still don't even know my parents' names. But that wasn't the only thing to happen on that day. You see, I was born on October 10th thirteen years ago. Does that coincide with any big event you know of?"

"Wasn't the Kyuubi no Kitusne's attack on Konohagakure around then," Haku answered in confusion. "When your Yondaime Hokage killed the demon…"

"Pinpon! The big secret about that is that demons, especially bijuu like the Kyuubi, can't be killed. Not by mortals like us anyway; all we can do is seal them. Since the Kyuubi was the most powerful of the bijuu, they needed a living container to hold it. One freshly born so that the chakra system could adapt to handle the presence of the bijuu's chakra. Guess who got picked," Naruto asked sardonically.

"Then that means…" Haku cut off with a gasp as she stared at the blonde.

"Yep, it means that your truly is the jinchuuriki of the strongest demon to ever plague the elemental countries," Naruto drawled. The real kicker is that the Yondaime wanted people to treat me as a hero for the sacrifice I made, but all they saw was the monster that had destroyed homes, families and lives in a very fragile shell. I was routinely abused by the orphanage staff, since a monster like me didn't need regular meals or a warm bed or a kind smile. They also looked the other way when drunken villagers and shinobi came after me for revenge." Haku mad a small horrified noise in the back of her throat as Naruto bulled his way through his story

"I moved out of the orphanage and into my apartment when I was barely five years old," Naruto continued. "Most of the attacks had stopped by then, except for the night of the Kyuubi festival; my birthday. I was six when I finally learned about the demon in my belly and I had to hear about it from a drunken shinobi that tried to kill me. I probably wouldn't be alive right now if Sandaime-jiji hadn't been watching over me. He generally kept an ANBU on guard duty and made time to spend with me and give me a parental figure, but the asshats on the Council did their damnedest to block him from being around the dangerous brat." Years of bitterness and anger filled Naruto's voice as he remembered these events and he had to stop and take a few deep breaths before continuing.

"Turns out that Sandaime-jiji had to make a law about my secret while I was still a baby. He made the seal an S-class secret and punished anyone who spoke about me having the demon in me. He said it was to keep the adults from turning the kids against me so that I would have a chance for friends, but it didn't work out that way. The parents still told their kids to stay away from, but didn't give a reason and what kid was going to play with me and risk getting grounded? So I put everything I had into training to be a ninja and jiji was able to give me a little help along the way. Iruka-sensei was really awesome and he acknowledged me when he gave me his own hitai-ate at graduation, but even that didn't go smoothly. The other instructor, Mizuki, duped me into stealing the Scroll of Forbidden Seals and tried to kill me."

"I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun," Haku whispered, shifting her hand to lay on top of his much to the blonde's embarrassment.

"Don't get me wrong, Haku-chan," Naruto stated, "I'm not whining or looking for sympathy. I'm just saying that no matter how shitty your life is, you have to buckle down and carry on."

"But where would I go? What would I do?" Haku's soft voice had a plaintive lilt to it as she continued, "no village would take in someone like me…"

"I bet you Konoha would," Naruto grinned. "Sandaime-jiji always likes it when he can hoodwink the Council and I bet he'd do it if I asked."

"I don't think it will be that easy, Naruto-kun," Haku said sadly. "I'm a known accomplice of an A-Rank nukenin and while I was never officially a Kiri-nin, 'm sure they've posted a bounty on me as well. Coming to Konoha could stir up a lot of trouble; most likely more than your Hokage would be willing to put up with."

Naruto slumped in the chair and propped his chin in his hand as he considered the situation. _She's got a point_, the blonde conceded. _Jiji likes to tweak the Council, but this kind of thing might be a little too much to ask. Kuso, if this happened to Sasuke-teme, everyone would bend over backwards to help him. Wait a minute, that's it!_

"Ne, Haku-chan, I've got it," Naruto said excitedly.

"What do you mean, Naruto-kun," Haku asked and Naruto noticed that her color had definitely improved.

"Well," Naruto started, "this is what we could do…"

* * *

Hatake Kakashi was many things: an elite jounin, a respected if slightly perverted pillar of Konoha's shinobi society, an aficionado of fine literature(especially the Icha Icha series), but he had never considered himself as a teacher. In fact, having a cell of genin working with him gave him a definite case of the collywobbles. Even more so given the freakish similarity the group held to his own genin team from many years ago. All in all, though, he'd gotten to know the kids and felt that he had a good grasp on anything the three teens could throw at him. Until now, that is.

"I'm sorry, but could you say that again," he asked, rubbing at his ears as if to clear them out while his orange-clad student looked at him with a beaming smile on his face. "I know that I can't have heard you correctly."

"I said that Haku-chan's sworn fealty to me as a servant of the Uzumaki clan," Naruto beamed proudly.

The one-eyed jounin looked down at the blonde bundle of energy and shook his head. The boy never ceased to amaze him with the way his mind worked, even if the end result wasn't correct. "I don't think that will work, Naruto," he said.

"Why not," Naruto asked, blinking in surprise.

"Because as far as I know, there is no Uzumaki clan," Kakashi explained. "While it is an intriguing idea and might actually work if Sasuke or myself were to take her oath, I don't think it will happen. Sasuke doesn't like that he lost to her so easily, even if he did activate his Sharingan while fighting her and I have no interest in accepting any vassals. Without a clan of your own the oath of fealty is meaningless."

The feral grin on Naruto's face should have warned the jounin, but Kakashi still found himself surprised when the blonde handed him a scroll. He opened it warily, aware that his student still had a penchant for playing pranks on people and skimmed over the contents. His visible eye opened wide in shock and he looked back at the blonde asking, "Exactly where did you get something like this and why would you even have it?"

"Hehe, jiji and I made that up about a year ago," Naruto chuckled. "Oh, I admit that I took advantage of the fact that Council had just done something or other that really pissed him off, but he put his signature and seal on it and had it quietly filed and processed."

"So, Sandaime-sama granted you an unrestricted clan status on the basis of your wind abilities and regenerative abilities," Kakashi read in shock.

"Yep," Naruto replied with a broad smile as he laced his fingers together across the back of his head. "When I reach my majority I can even claim a seat on the clan council. This means that I can Bring Haku-chan back with us to Konoha and not have to worry about bounties on her head or one of the other clans trying to get hold of her bloodline abilities."

"It seems like you've thought about this quite a bit, but what do you want from me," the jounin asked slightly nervously.

"I just need someone from another recognized clan to sign a document saying that they witnessed the oath," Naruto explained. "Haku-chan said she'd be willing to give it again in front of a witness and I figured you were the better bet since I'm pretty sure you're right about Sasuke-teme sulking about his loss to Haku-chan."

"I see," Kakashi said carefully, his eye narrowing. "Before I make my decision, there is one thing I would like to know."

"What's that, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto asked.

"Are you going to be able to fulfill your end of the contract? I know," Kakashi said, waving off Naruto's imminent outburst, "that you have every intention of doing so, but are you able to? Genin don't make all that much money, despite the high pay you'll receive from this mission, and you aren't receiving an orphan's stipend anymore. Your apartment cannot hold two people for any real length of time, so where do you plan on living? How will you handle food? Clothes? Other necessities?

Naruto's mouth opened and closed like a fish while the jounin talked, amusing him greatly. The blonde flushed a little and muttered, "I bet you wouldn't ask this if it were Sasuke-teme."

"You're right," Kakashi answered, startling the blonde who hadn't realized that the jounin had heard his comment. "Although not in the way you're probably thinking. Sasuke inherited the Uchiha sector of Konoha and all the assets of his clan after they dies, so I wouldn't ask him those questions. I'd have an entirely different set for him, most of which I'm sure he'd find terribly embarrassing."

Naruto chuckled a little and calmed down before answering. "I know that my apartment wouldn't work and that I don't have a great income right now despite the fact that I've got a pretty good savings, but that's where Haku-chan comes in!"

"I sincerely doubt that either Haku or Zabuza had access to really large amounts of money," Kakashi said sarcastically. "The life of a nukenin rarely leads to amassing wealth."

"You'd be surprised," Naruto chuckled, "but that's not where the money will come from. Haku-chan told me where Gatou kept all of his business papers, account numbers, passwords and the cash he kept on hand for under the carpet dealings."

"I think you mean under the table," Kakashi corrected absently as he recalled how much the Gatou corporation was worth.

"I figure we should give most of it to the people of Nami to help them recover," Naruto continued, "but I don't think anyone important would mind if we took a sizeable reward for ourselves. Right, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hmm, normally looting on missions is frowned on," the jounin mused with the thought of the super rare, ultra deluxe limited printing of Icha Icha Paradise with the extra chapter of bonus service…content, that is. "However, I think we can justify this as a reward from the citizens of Nami no Kuni for helping them out of a tight spot."

"So how about you, me and Sakura go and get the stuff," Naruto suggested.

"Any particular reason for Sakura to come along," Kakashi asked. "I'm sure is won't be easy to pry her away from Sasuke's bedside without good reason."

"Haku-chan asked me to bring her clothes and stuff back," the blonde admitted with a blush, "and there's no way I'm going to let a pervert like you go through her stuff, so I thought Sakura would be the best alternative."

The jounin's laughter only made Naruto blush harder and stick out his tongue at the older ninja.

* * *

Haku watched anxiously as the doctor carefully cut away the bandages. She'd been told the doctor had done this every three days, but this was the first time she'd been awake while he did it. It had been difficult to gauge how severe the wound was during the battle on the bridge due to adrenaline, but the kunoichi definitely remembered losing a lot of blood. Which explained why Naruto had been needed to give her a transfusion, although a small voice in the back of her head was making suggestive comments about the meaning of compatible blood types.

"Just a little more, Haku-san," the doctor said cheerfully, a sparkle in his old eyes as the pad under the bandage was revealed. "I have the new dressing prepared and I'll let Keiko-chan wrap you up once I've examined the wound." The nurse shuffled in the background, slightly irritated at the doctor's good cheer.

"I appreciate all the trouble you're going through for my sake," Haku said softly as the last of the bandages were removed and the doctor used a sponge to wet the pad so that he could remove it without peeling away any scabbing that might be present. Haku did wonder if it was necessary to use cold water, though, as there was definitely a noticeable side effect to the application.

"Oh, It's no trouble at all," the doctor said dismissively. "Naruto-kun has managed to rekindle the life in this village and I'd help you for that alone, even if I wasn't getting rather exorbitant fees to ensure your recovery. Now, let's have a look…why, this is quite amazing!"

"What is," Haku asked in confusion.

"The wound has completely sealed over," the doctor explained, probing the wound tenderly. "This is truly remarkable. The tissue underneath is still healing, but the wound itself has completely closed. I can go ahead and remove the stitches already."

"Is there…going to be a scar," Haku asked hesitantly.

"I'm afraid so," the doctor replied sadly. "It's a terrible shame that a pretty young thing like you is going to have such a nasty scar on your chest, but I'm not a chakra healer like you'll find in one of the ninja villages. I'm just happy the bones weren't badly damaged with your injury, since that would extend your recovery time significantly."

"When do you think I'll be fit to travel," the kunoichi asked, wincing as the doctor carefully cut the sutures in her chest and removed them with a pair of forceps.

"Well, I'd really advise more bed rest to fully recover, but I know how impatient you youngsters are," the doctor chuckled, "so I'd say about a week. That will ensure that all the muscles will have knitted enough that we don't have to worry about you tearing them anytime soon. But you'll have to travel at a sedate pace. I'll talk to Naruto-kun and Kakashi-san about that when they come to check on you later."

"Thank you," Haku said with a sweet smile, a little startled by the news of her quick recovery. _I wonder if my swift recovery has anything to do with the blood transfusion that Naruto-sama gave me_, Haku wondered. _Demonic chakra is supposed to have effects on the body of the jinchuuriki and healing would be the first use the body would put the extra chakra to_.

As Haku thought about the younger blonde shinobi, she felt a blush spread across her cheeks and hoped the doctor didn't notice. She'd been surprised by the feelings Naruto had been evoking in her, especially since she could tell that he wasn't trying to woo her. The kunoichi had been propositioned several times before, mostly by women who thought she was the male she pretended to be and a few times by men who were interested in pretty young men. She'd always turned them away as politely as she could, but with Naruto something felt different. He had no idea of the feelings he seemed to rouse in her without even trying and Haku had no intention of spoiling his innocent affection any time soon.

_Maybe it's because he accepts me for who I am_, she thought while the doctor cleaned her chest and applied a new medicated pad before bandaging her chest again. _Everyone who's been interested me was only interested in what they expected me to be. Naruto-sama just accepts what I tell him, like he's afraid that I'll disappear if he makes the slightest mistake._ The blonde had surprised her with his idea to allow her to live in Konoha and she had been startled by how eager she was to accept it. She felt this incredibly strong attraction to the boy and knew that should bother her more than it did. _I never felt anything like this when those men and women propositioned me, but when Naruto-sama touches my hand I blush like a schoolgirl._

It hadn't helped when Kakashi had come for a private talk with her. She couldn't help but feel some resentment towards the jounin for killing Zabuza, but she knew there had been nothing personal about it. Zabuza had been trying to kill him after all. That had made the talk slightly uncomfortable, although not as much as him questioning her intentions towards his student. He had laughed at her blush and told her to think it over, because the oath she had given to the blonde meant several things he was sure that Naruto was unaware of. It had startled her to find out she would be responsible for taking care of Naruto in every way possible, especially with the leer the jounin had managed to convey despite his mask.

To tell the truth, Haku found the prospect a lot more pleasant than she would have expected. Naruto had the potential to grow into a very fine man and the kunoichi felt no shame that her thoughts had been turning more and more towards some of the more pleasant duties she would be obliged to undertake.

"There you go, young lady," the doctor said, tucking the end of the bandage over so that it would remain secure even if she moved around. "A word of advice; though you'll be able to travel in a week, you should avoid strenuous physical activity for two more weeks. So no hanky-panky with Naruto-kun any time soon, if you know what I mean."

Haku's blush amused both the doctor and the nurse to no end as laughter rang through the room.

* * *

Naruto was thrilled to finally be on their way. Today, the ninja would be leaving Nami no Kuni and head back home to Konoha, which he was startled to realize that he really did miss. Not the villagers per se, but people like Iruka, Teuchi and Ayame and jiji made him eager to return and tell them about everything that had happened. That and he couldn't wait to taste the true perfection that was Ichiraku ramen again.

"you know that we'll miss all of you," Tazuna said as he looked at the five ninja who were standing on the newly finished end of the bridge he'd labored so long to build. "The lot of you have really changed our little corner of the world.

"Maa, I'm just glad we were able to complete our mission," Kakashi demurred.

"Oi, Inari, it's okay to cry once in a while, but don't let it keep you from dealing with your problems," Naruto told the boy standing next to his grandfather while ruffling the boy's hair.

"You'll come back and visit sometime, won't you, Naruto-niisan," the boy asked, his eyes suspiciously bright as he looked up as the blonde.

"Of course," Naruto proclaimed. "I'll come back sometime when I get a vacation and check on all of you, so you'd better take care of your family, Inari."

A nod was all the boy could manage as the blonde turned to join his team where they waited to be on their way. Sakura was standing next to Sasuke, who was glaring at an unperturbed Haku. The Uchiha had thrown what could only be called a temper tantrum when he found out that the kunoichi would be retuning to Konoha with them. Naruto had a sinking feeling that Sasuke's continued antagonism was going to convince the villagers to treat Haku as badly as they did him.

The trip back to Konoha was going to take them a week at the walking pace the group was forced to keep so that Haku would not overstrain herself along the way. Not to mention that Kakashi would have more time to read his little orange books. Naruto found himself chattering almost nonstop about all the places he wanted to show Haku once they arrived in Konoha. Oh sure, they had to go and make their report to the Hokage and jiji was going to want a full explanation about the new addition to the group, but he'd be free to take her around town without too much of a delay.

_That reminds me_, Naruto thought, _I'll have to ask jiji for help in finding a place for me and Haku-chan to live now that we've got all this money. None of the real estate people are gonna want to have anything to do with me unless it's three times the price._ The ransacking of Gatou's offices had netted a very substantial sum of cash and a variety of business accounts that contained amounts of money the blonde had never expected to see in his lifetime. The villagers had insisted Team Seven take the lion's share of the cash they received, saying that the money in the accounts would be more than enough to get the village back on its feet again.

Kakashi had split the money four ways and the individual shares had been enough to make Naruto and Sakura's head spin, while Sasuke had merely packed it away without a word as if money were unimportant. While a part of Naruto's mind was plotting exactly how to spend all the money, the rest was focused on the oddities that had popped up during the mission. He'd asked about the memories he'd gotten from the Kage Bunshin and Kakashi had confirmed that the blonde was not imagining things. It was a type of feedback unique to Kage Bunshin no jutsu and could be dangerous if too much information came back to him at once. That and the high chakra requirement were apparently the reasons it had been sealed away as a kinjutsu. Naruto's abnormally high reserve and incredible stamina and recovery ability were the only reasons the blonde was able to use the jutsu as easily as he did.

The jounin didn't have an answer for Naruto's story about his jutsus growing easier to perform, save to say that any jutsu became easier with practice. Naruto was wondering if it was an oddity of his extreme wind affinity. Thinking about this and mulling over the possibilities certainly occupied the majority of the trip back to Konoha for the blonde.

The sight of the village walls rising over the trees made the entire group's spirits lift, although the blonde could tell that Haku was feeling a little apprehensive. So he took her hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze before leading her up to the gate where a pair of chuunin stood on guard to inspect travelers coming and going from the village.

"Team Seven returning from our mission," Kakashi said to one of the chuunin, who made a notation on his clipboard.

"Who's the girl," the man asked, gesturing towards Haku.

"Ah, that's a bit more complicated," the jounin replied sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "Let's just call her a guest for the moment. I'm going to take her to meet with Hokage-sama when I give my mission report."

"Very well, then," the chuunin said tiredly, making another notation on his clipboard. "Make sure to let the administration desk at the tower know of her final status. Go on through."

"Sasuke, Sakura, why don't the two of you go on home," Kakashi suggested as they passed through the gates. "We'll meet the day after tomorrow at noon in our usual place. I should have the adjusted pay vouchers for you by then, although I suggest depositing the reward money in the bank as soon as possible. Even in Konoha it's not exactly safe to walk around with that kind of cash."

The two genin nodded and left, Sakura trailing after the Uchiha in hopes of still getting the dour boy to go on a date. Kakashi turned back to the other two and said, "Well, you have a choice, Naruto. Haku has to come with me to Hokage Tower and will have to undergo a series of questions to relieve any suspicions that she's here for any mischief, but you can go home or you can come with us..."

"I'll go with you," the blonde announced, interrupting his sensei. "I really hat waiting around to find out what's happening, so it's probably better for me to be there. Besides, I can answer a lot of jiji's questions myself."

"Very well, Naruto," the jounin said, his eye curving into a smile.

* * *

The group wound up waiting nearly two hours in the reception room outside the Hokage's office before his secretary, Kanako, managed to fit them into his schedule. Naruto had always liked the older woman, who had a soft spot for him and always let him in to see the Hokage as long as he wasn't in a meeting. When the office doors opened they disgorged several shinobi, most of whom Naruto recognized from various run-ins over the years as all of them had been ANBU at one point or another.

"The three of you can go in now," Kanako said with a warm smile that Naruto returned. She was really nice unless you did something to make her angry, then you had to face the full cold wrath that had been known to make the Hokage tremble when she caught him napping or drinking when he was supposed to be working.

"Oi, jiji, we're back," Naruto called out as the group entered the office, closing the doors behind them. He wasn't sure, but he thought he heard what might have been a snicker from Kanako as he said that.

"Ah, Naruto, what brings you here," the Sandaime asked as he started packing his pipe with tobacco. "I was expecting Kakashi to give the mission report, but it's unusual for a genin to accompany their sensei to one of these sessions."

"Things got a little complicated on our mission, Hokage-sama," Kakashi answered before the blonde could respond and went on to give a detailed summation of what had happened since they'd left Konoha.

"So," the Sandaime said as he lit his pipe with a long match and puffed on it to get it started, "I was right to think something was wrong when ANBU picked up those two nukenin you left packaged for us, Kakashi, although I wonder why you didn't send for reinforcements?"

"By the time I had determined things had gone beyond an upper C-Rank/lower B-Rank threat level, we were already in Nami no Kuni," Kakashi replied with a shrug. "I felt that as long as it was low level nukenin and bandits that my team could handle the mission. When Zabuza showed up in Nami, I considered sending for help but it would have taken too long for the message to travel back here and get help to Nami in time. In the end, we did manage a successful result and I have a document from Tazuna-san affirming the upgrade to an A-Rank mission and verification of Zabuza's death by the local doctor to send to Kirigakure for the bounty on his head."

Naruto noticed Haku tense at the mention of her mentor's death and he reached over to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. The girl looked a little surprised at the blondes' silent gesture of comfort, but she let the tension ebb away confident that he would take care of matters. Sarutobi didn't miss the byplay between the teens and lifted an eyebrow in question.

"So who is this charming young lady," the old man asked.

"This is Haku-chan," Naruto replied brightly.

"Zabuza's former apprentice," Kakashi added for clarification, causing the Hokage's brow to furrow in concern. "She's asked to join Konoha and since she's never actually been an official nukenin, I thought…"

"Hmm," the Sandaime said thoughtfully. "While never officially a ninja of Kirigakure, you've been associated with one of their most wanted nukenin. Is that correct, Haku-san?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Haku replied quietly, her eyes on the floor in front of her.

"Come on, jiji, no one really has to know what she was," Naruto offered, casting a worried look at the kunoichi.

"Granting her asylum would strain relations with Kirigakure," the Hokage said, "and I cannot justify that without good cause…"

"Hey, you have to let her stay, jiji, cause she's my vessel," Naruto cried out, drawing strange looks from the Hokage and jounin and a small giggle from the kunoichi.

"I believe you mean vassal, Naruto-sama," Haku corrected gently before addressing the Hokage. "But he is correct in that I have given Naruto-sama my oath of fealty and Kakashi-san was kind enough to witness it for us."

"I see," Sarutobi said thoughtfully, stroking hi goatee as the one eyed jounin nodded in confirmation. "Well that definitely puts a different spin on events. I take it you used the clan certificate that I made for you, Naruto?"

"Yep," the blonde answered proudly. "Kakashi-sensei wrote the papers up for us and I used a hanko that one of the craftsmen in Nami no Kuni made for me as a gift to seal it. It's a really cool hanko, since it has my spiral on it."

"This will be very interesting," the old man chuckled as a grin grew across the aged face that was eerily reminiscent of one of Naruto's. "I hadn't planned on making your clan status known until you were older, my boy, but this will have to be published with the notice of vassalage. Oh, the stuffed shirts on the Council are going to pitch a fit." The old man laughed heartily, eliciting smiles from the others.

"I am gonna need a little help, jiji," Naruto admitted. "My apartment's not big enough for the both of us and if I'm gonna use my clan status, then I need a respectable house to base it around."

The Sandaime sobered quickly as he thought on this. "That's going to be difficult, Naruto," he said sadly. "You don't have much money and there's no way I'd be able to use my personal funds for something so extreme as the founding of a clan…"

"That's not a problem, jiji," Naruto interrupted as he pulled a large knapsack from his travel pack and set it on the desk. Large denomination ryo notes overflowed onto the table, making the old man's eyes widen in surprise. "Tazuna-san said that we deserved a share of Gatou's loot and wouldn't take no for an answer since I've got to take care of Haku-chan now."

"Oh, my," the Sandaime let out as he peered into the knapsack while the blonde grinned triumphantly. "Well, this definitely will allow for the purchase of a good sized house and a nice amount of land to go with it. I presume you wish for me to act as your agent?"

"Yep," the blonde nodded. "I'd like one with a lot of space and maybe enough room fro a garden."

"You like to garden, Naruto-sama," Haku asked in surprise.

"I've always liked to grow things, but I've been limited to what would fit in window planters of pots on the windowsill," Naruto replied with a nod. "Of course, all my plants have probably gone all withered and brown by now for lack of water. I really wasn't expecting to be gone as long as we were."

"Not to worry, Naruto," the Sandaime chuckled. "I made a point of stopping by your apartment every couple of days to water them and check and see that no one had vandalized it in your absence. Your birthday is only a few weeks away, you know."

"Thanks, jiji," Naruto grinned, happy that he hadn't lost the plants he put so much care into growing.

"Now the question is where to look for land," Sarutobi mused.

"The eastern district has a lot of available real estate," Kakashi offered indifferently. Some time when the others hadn't been looking, the jounin had buried his nose in its usual little orange book. "That area saw the most damage during the Kyuubi attack and many didn't want to live there even after the reconstruction was finished."

"That's an excellent idea," the Sandaime murmured, his eyes glinting in amusement. "I might know a few people that would be more than happy to rid themselves of an old estate no one in the family wants to use in return for a nice sum of cash. The best part is that they won't know who I am purchasing it for and there will be nothing they can do about it once they find out."

"One might say that's positively evil of you, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, looking up from his book with an eye smile. "Especially if you're talking about who I think you are."

"What did I tell you, Haku-chan," Naruto exclaimed as he pumped a fist in the air. "Jiji rocks!"

"Indeed, you did tell me, Naruto-sama," Haku said with a fond smile.

"It will take a few days to complete the sale and registry of the deed, Naruto," Sarutobi said, coughing as he attempted to regain his decorum. "You can both stand the cramped apartment for a few days, I trust?"

"You bet, jiji," Naruto replied. "Come on, Haku-chan! I'll show you where I've been living and then we can go to Ichirakus." The blonde shouldered his travel pack again and took the kunoichi by the hand as he led her out of the office, followed by Kakashi. Once they were all gone, the Sandaime Hokage leaned back in his chair and swiveled to look out the windows at Mount Hokage.

"You'd be proud of him, Minato-kun," Sarutobi whispered.

A/N:

In response to a request for a list of the jutsus Naruto uses, here you are:

**Fuuton: Uzukazekiri no jutsu** – "Spinning wind slice" Creates discs of wind chakraThat rotate at high speeds and fly out. Unfortunately they do not move in a straight line and require careful aiming to make sure they hit the intended target at long distance. At short distance they can be very deadly.

**Fuuton: Kazenami no jutsu** – "Wave of Wind" Creates a large gust of wind with strengthProportional to the chakra used. Perfect for removing smoke or mist from an area of for powering up Katon jutsu.

**Fuuton: Arashi no Me** –"Eye of the Storm" Creates a vortex of violent winds around aCalm center that grows more and more powerful like a hurricane as long as the jutsu is maintained.

**Ryusei no Ugoki** - "Flowing Water Step" Naruto creates a pad of wind chakra under his feet and skates forward using extra wind current to accelerate and decelerate, not unlike a hovercraft's motion.


	10. Chapter 10

Naruto grimaced as he brought his arms up to block a blow that pushed him back a few inches and tried to grab hold of the leg before Sasuke managed to retract it. The whirling red eyes of the Uchiha's Sharingan glared at the blonde and his leg moved out of the way as the other leg came speeding around and struck Naruto in the side. He muttered a curse under his breath at Kakashi for forcing him into taijutsu training with the broody boy so that he could gain experience with his newly awakened blood limit. It didn't help matters that the blonde's taijutsu was severely lacking due to years spent on developing his sword style and completely ignoring his hand to hand capabilities.

The next blow caught Naruto under the chin and sent him crashing to the ground as Sasuke backed away with a superior smirk. The blonde lay there for a moment to catch his breath and wished he'd at least been allowed to use his Ryuusei no Ugoki, but Kakashi had said he wasn't allowed to use ay external chakra manipulation. _Maybe I should have waited a while before starting that weight training that Haku-chan suggested_, Naruto considered as he pulled himself back up to his feet. Haku had suggested a regimen of weight training for the blonde to increase his overall strength and speed, which Naruto had leapt into. She even produced a set of chakra weights that had belonged to Zabuza and could have their weight increased by an infusion of chakra into the seals worked into the metal of the weights. They had been strapped to his forearms and shins and in a harness across his chest, which even on the lowest setting was a burden to be reckoned with.

"I think that's all for today," Kakashi said loudly from the other side of the field where he'd been running Sakura through endurance and chakra building exercises. It had surprised the blonde both that Kakashi was actually teaching the kunoichi and that she was working hard and getting messy without serious complaint. Even Naruto had to admit that she was showing an impressive dedication to improving her skills. The jounin had even worked with her on refining the basic genjutsu skills taught in the Academy. Since those skills were control intensive rather than chakra intensive and responded to a high level of intelligence, Sakura was actually becoming someone strong enough that Naruto was glad to have on the team.

"Feh, beating up on the dobe barely took any effort," Sasuke said snidely, although he did look fairly drained.

"You're expending more chakra than you think you are with the Sharingan, Sasuke," Kakashi told him as he crossed the clearing. "As you use it more, you body will grow used to the increased demands and begin producing more chakra. That's why I'm limiting what Naruto is using in your sparring, since letting the two of you go full out would leave you sprawled on the ground exhausted in half an hour. It's also good practice for you, Naruto, since your taijutsu skills are definitely substandard."

"I know, I know," Naruto replied irritably. "I ignored my taijutsu to focus on kenjutsu and ninjutsu. I already know that, so the question is what do we do about it?"

"Hmm," Kakashi mused. "The biggest problem is that your forms are sloppy and unpracticed. I'll start working with you on that next week and you can work through the forms until you burn them into your muscle memory."

"Fine," Naruto sighed as he realized how tedious that training was going to be.

"Hokage-sama asked me to have you stop by his office after practice. The thing we discussed is ready," the jounin said.

"Great," Naruto exclaimed, suddenly full of energy again. "Haku-chan and I were wondering when he would be done." The blonde steadfastly ignored the scowl Sasuke made when his new vassal was mentioned. The broody genin still hadn't gotten over how easily the kunoichi had overwhelmed him in Nami no Kuni.

"Then we'll meet tomorrow for another D-Rank at the bridge," Kakashi said cheerfully as he pulled out his book and wandered away.

"So what does Hokage-sama want to see you about," Sakura asked as she tried to wipe off the sweat she'd accumulated during her training.

"That is…a secret," Naruto replied with a foxy grin and a laugh, ducking under the kunoichi's angry punch as he ran from the training area.

* * *

Naruto walked into Hokage Tower accompanied by his shadow, as some were beginning to refer to Haku. Adjusting to living with the girl had been strange for the blonde, as he really hadn't considered what the two of them living in such close quarters as his small apartment would really mean. The first morning, he'd gone into the bathroom to get ready for the day and had seen her as she was stepping out of the small shower he'd rigged up for a quick wash in the mornings. That had left the blonde blushing all day as she had delighted in teasing him about it while they were going around the village so she could learn the local geography.

"Hokage-sama is ready for you, Naruto," Kanako said as the pair approached the office. Nodding to the secretary, Naruto opened the door and let Haku precede him inside before following and shutting it behind him.

"Yo, jiji," Naruto called out as he entered the office, causing the Hokage to look up from hi paperwork and smile at the pair. Haku had told him that she was surprised that he was allowed to be so disrespectful to the leader of the village, but the blonde told her that he did it because the Hokage needed someone to keep his feet on the ground.

"Ah, Naruto and Haku," the Sandaime greeted them with a wave and indicated for them to move closer. "I've managed to purchase a place that I think you'll like and I managed to get a nice deal on it for you. I had the remainder of the money deposited in your bank account, Naruto, but I thought you'd like to go and see it."

"That would be great," Naruto replied enthusiastically. _Hmm_, he thought, _I'll have to take Haku to the bank and get her signed up to access my account for when I have to go out of the village_.

"We can go now, if you'd like," the Sandaime suggested as he rose and put his large hat on. "I had Kanako clear my afternoon schedule so that I could take you there myself."

"You're the best, jiji," Naruto said, giving the old Hokage one of his biggest grins as the man chuckled and led them out of the office and tower to the streets below.

"The eastern district has only been sparsely populated in recent times, despite it having some truly valuable real estate," the Sandaime said as they walked through the village streets. "So many clans who had secondary estates there let them get rundown. The Hyuugas had one that caught my eye and Hiashi was more than willing to unload what he considered worthless real estate for a reasonable price. Just so you know, though, one of the reasons that I got the price lowered is that the house and the ground s are going to need some serious repair. Twelve years of neglect does not get cleaned up overnight."

"That's okay, jiji," Naruto told him. "I learned to do a lot of home repairs when my apartment would always get trashed every couple of weeks. The landlord let me use the tools and supplies but said I'd have to do the work myself or hire someone to do it for me."

"And while I am not as well acquainted with home repair, I believe I shall be able to contribute my fair share of the work," Haku added.

"Plus I can make a whole bunch of Kage Bunshin and have them do most of the work," Naruto said with a chuckle. "We'll have the place shipshape in practically no time at all."

"That's very reassuring," the Hokage replied with a laugh as the group stopped in front of a wooden gate. The Sandaime reached inside his robes and produced a large key ring that he used to unlock the doors. Naruto pushed against one of the doors, struggling to move it enough to allow them entrance.

"Looks like we'll need to grease these hinges up," Naruto panted as Sarutobi and Haku walked inside. The yard had weeds and grass growing high, although bare spots could be seen where stones had been set into the ground. Trees grew along one of the yard's walls and desperately needed to be pruned back. Assorted trash littered the few dirt areas not covered n overgrowth.

The house itself was a traditional single story affair and it was obvious that shingles were broken or missing in several places, while the paper on most of the shoji needed to be replaced. Naruto pulled out one of his swords and used it like a machete to clear a path to the house, wincing as he realized that he would have to thoroughly clean and oil the blade that evening.

The veranda around the house was sturdy, if still in need of cleaning, and most of the tatami in the house was salvageable, although the blonde could see a few rooms where it would need to be replaced. The kitchen had a gas stove and oven and enough room to prepare a meal for several dozen people. The gas and water were not active, but the bathroom was well appointed with a furo that Naruto felt looked more like an indoor pool than a tub.

"One of the nicest features of the house is that there is a small onsen out back," the Hokage said with a grin. "That was one of the reasons I picked this house over the others available. So what do you think, Naruto? Haku?"

"This place is awesome, jiji," Naruto exclaimed, a large smile on his face. "I don't know how many people used to live here, but there looks to be at least enough room for twenty!"

"This is a very nice place, Hokage-sama," Haku added as she looked around. "It should not be very difficult to clean up a small part for the two of use to live in while we start on the rest."

"The grounds are actually fairly large," the Hokage told the pair. "The back wall is set against a section of forest that is part of the property and can quite easily be turned into a training ground. The is a much smaller gate in the rear wall that will allow access and the key for it is on the ring with the others." The old man jangled the ring of keys in his hand. "Now, I just need your signature and seal on a few documents back at my office and this will officially be your new home."

* * *

It was more than a week later that Naruto and Haku actually moved into the house, since they had to go through all the trouble of having all the utilities reconnected and they had to make sure that everything flowed into the house the way it should. It was quite a sight to see the convoy of orange-clad shinobi march down the streets of Konoha carrying what little Naruto and Haku actually owned and a large assortment of building supplies to repair the house with.

It became a routine in the new home as fall began to settle it arms around Konohagakure for Naruto to create thirty Kage Bunshin every morning before he left to meet his team. Haku would direct the bunshins and the house and surrounding grounds grew more habitable everyday.

Naruto found himself going through grueling workouts as he practiced his taijutsu forms with Sakura while Kakashi worked with Sasuke on coordinating his Sharingan. Naruto found himself amused at the amount of work that was required to use it correctly, since he assumed that most kekkai genkai were automatically used to their fullest extent. A silly thought really, since Sasuke was having to learn to adjust his reaction time to match what his Sharingan could see. As it was, a significantly faster opponent like Haku would be able to be able to easily defeat him since his reaction time couldn't keep up with his perception time.

The blonde had found that the extensive taijutsu work was smoothing out the flaws in his hand to hand style at the same time it was helping him get used to the weights he was wearing. He'd already upped the weight by doubling the chakra stored in the seals and it looked like he would be able to do so again in another week if he could keep his progress up. The strange thing was that anytime they sparred, Naruto found that Sakura was able to land blows that were much stronger than her physique suggested, even if she had been slowly gaining muscle mass.

Naruto found himself letting his mind wander as he practiced, mostly to the question Haku had posed to him that morning. The kunoichi had wondered if he was interested in throwing a housewarming party once the house and grounds were in presentable shape. Naruto was floored, since he'd never really been to a party before much less throwing one for other people. It did appeal to the part of him that still craved attention from his peers and he thought that he could even get his graduating class from the Academy to show up with their senseis. Teuchi and Ayame would come and if he gave enough warning jiji would be sure to come. Naruto nodded to himself as he moved though a cool down exercise and considered that hand delivering the invitations would be better than sending them by post. Less chance of the parents interfering with their attendance.

After Kakashi dismissed them, Naruto headed home. The trip took longer since his new home was on the other side of town, but the blonde was much more comfortable there than he'd ever been in his apartment. It was looking much better no too, as the blonde could tell when he stepped through the open gates. The grounds had been tended to and the grass clippings and tree debris had been burned in a rather nice bonfire that Naruto had started in the fire pit he'd found near the back wall. The roof had been carefully reshingled and the old tiles had been hauled away as trash, while the paper on the shoji had been replaced. Naruto saw that Haku had several of the Kage Bunshins actively scraping and repainting the exterior of the house.

"Tadaima, Haku-chan," he called out as he slipped his sandals off and stepped up on the veranda. One of the shoji slid open a ways down and Haku stepped out. She still wore kimono, even when working around the house although she tied the sleeves back to avoid getting them dirty.

"Okaerinasai, Naruto-sama," Haku replied with a smile that seemed to light up the day. "How was you training today?"

"Same old, same old, Haku-chan," Naruto grumbled. "I'm still working on my taijutsu alongside Sakura while Kakashi-sensei helps Sasuke learn to use his Sharingan."

"Well, it is good to see that Kakashi-san is helping you correct your fundamentals, Naruto-sama," Haku said as she led him into a sitting room with a long, low table. She sat him on one of the cushions and set about serving the tea she'd prepared earlier. "While you fight primarily with your swords, your style requires a fair amount of space to use and you may not always have your weapons handy. That's why all ninja, even weapons specialists, are trained extensively in basic taijutsu."

"I know, Haku-chan," Naruto sighed. "I just wish my progress wasn't so damn slow. And Kakashi-sensei says that I'm not allowed to use my wind chakra with my taijutsu until he says that I'm ready."

"Well, it could be dangerous to your teammates if something went wrong," Haku offered as she poured the tea into a ceramic cup Haku had bought a large number of things that Naruto hadn't considered, everything from extra linens to dishes. Cups and chopsticks. _Well, that's cause I ate out or ate instant ramen all the time_, Naruto thought as he sipped the tea.

"I know, Haku-chan," Naruto muttered in a long suffering voice. "I'm just feeling a little frustrated since I want to learn something new, not just go over stuff until I've got it right. Anyway, I was thinking about the housewarming party you suggested and I think it sounds like a good idea."

"Really," Haku squealed cheerfully at the prospect. "Oh, this will be so much fun! Do you think you could write a list of guests, Naruto-sama? I can write out the invitations for you and we can send them out by the end of the week…"

"I think we should hand deliver most of them, Haku-chan," Naruto interrupted. "A lot of the people I know live with their parents, who might intentionally misplace the invitation once they realize it comes from me. I figure that I can give my classmates' invitations to their jounin-sensei and ask them to make sure they come."

"Very well, Naruto-sama," Haku replied. "Dinner shall be ready in a half hour and before you ask, we're not having ramen tonight."

"Aww," Naruto grumbled, but he gave Haku a smile. While he missed eating ramen, the kunoichi had a way of cooking that even made vegetables, his mortal enemies, actually edible. Besides, it was nice to have someone there to worry about him like she did, even if she tended to spoil him a bit.

* * *

Two weeks later, the house and grounds were pretty much as groomed and repaired as they were likely to get. The Kyuubi festival, and Naruto's birthday, was two days away and the day of the part had arrived. Naruto had given his team their invitations and Kakashi had practically ordered the other two genin to attend as a team bonding exercise. Asuma and Kurenai had agreed to pass the invitations along to their teams and it was likely they would attend, while Iruka had agreed to come immediately. Teuchi and Ayame had said they would close Ichiraku's early and visit their favorite customer in his new home. Sandaime-jiji had been pleased to be invited and had promised to bring Konohamaru and his friends, Moegi and Udon along to the party.

Naruto had never realized all of the preparations that a party this size would require: everything from the leaning to buying extra food to getting some new clothes. Haku had insisted that he wear a yukata as the host of the party and Naruto had grudgingly agreed when she gave him a glimpse of what he realized would be her most devastating weapon ever: her puppy dog eyes. All she had to do was widen her eyes, let them tear up a little and stick her lip out a bit trembling and Naruto found himself caving instantly. _At least she bought me a good one,_ Naruto thought as he examined the yukata he was getting ready to put on. It was a dark shade of orange with his namesake fish cakes as the pattern, both of which combined to make the blonde fall in love with the garment.

The guests were due to start arriving around three in the afternoon and Haku had planned to serve dinner at six, although plenty of hours d'ourves would be set out for people like Chouji who felt the need to eat constantly. Naruto had a trio of Kage Bunshins helping out in the kitchen, since it wasn't fair to put the burden of cooking for all of them solely on Haku's shoulders.

The blonde dressed quickly and headed out into the room they were going to use for the party, giving everything a last check to make sure that all the food and beverages were set out. The ringing of the bell at the front gate made Naruto jump a little in surprise before he all but ran to let the first of the guests into the house.

"Iruka-sensei, Teuchi-ossan, Ayame-neechan, it's good to see you," Naruto beamed with a brilliant smile. "Please come inside."

"This is an impressive place, Naruto-kun" Ayame said as the three of them came into the compound. "I never imagined that you'd have someplace like this so soon."

"She'd right, Naruto," Teuchi said with a grin. "You're making an old man proud, although we don't see you as often as we used to."

"I'd be willing to bet that's Haku-san's influence," Iruka added with a fond smile for his favorite student. "She seems to be responsible for a lot of changes in our little hellion."

"Hey, I'm standing right here you know," Naruto protested grumpily. "Anyway, you're the first to arrive, so how about I give you a little tour?" The blonde couldn't help wanting to show off a little for these three, since they were the closest the boy had ever had to a family. He took Ayame by the hand and proceeded to show them around the house.

The next group to arrive was Team 8, who'd all arrived together. It was kind of odd to see Kiba and Shino wear something other than their usual jackets, but Hinata and Kurenai looked comfortable in their yukatas. Naruto had barely greeted them and shown them to the party room when the bell rang again, signaling the arrival of Team 10 and Sakura. Naruto found himself having to create a bunshin to guide them in as the Hokage arrived along with the three children.

"Oi, Naruto-niisan," Konohamaru called out, running ahead of his grandfather and friends.

"Yo, brat," Naruto replied with a grin, drawing a mock growl from the boy as he turned away to greet the Sandaime. "Yo, jiji! I'm glad you could come. I was worried the towers of paperwork had fallen and buried you at your desk."

"Not yet, Naruto, although there are days where I'm worried that it will happen," the Sandaime admitted as he ushered Udon and Moegi forward. He was wearing his usual robes, but the kids had been forced into yukatas by their parents. "Besides, I have to admit that I'm curious to see how well everything turned out."

"Well, come on then," Naruto waved everyone in. "Only Sasuke-teme and Kakashi-sensei haven't shown up yet. Not that it really surprises me, even if I did tell Kakashi-sensei to be here an hour ago."

"So you've caught on to the trick of dealing with him too, eh," the Hokage chuckled as he followed the blonde into compound and looked around the grounds in approval.

"It took a lot of work to get everything back in shape," Naruto explained as they walked around the building. "Luckily I can make myself into a one man workforce."

"Wow, Naruto-niisan, this place is awesome," Konohamaru said enthusiastically. "Do you have your own training ground?"

"Yep, it's outside the rear of the compound," the blonde replied proudly. "Anyways, we should get inside before Chouji eats all of the snacks."

As Naruto showed the group inside where the rest of the party's guests were, the bell rang again. The blonde hurried off to the gate and found Kakashi holding Sasuke by the scruff of his neck. The blonde had to fight the urge to snicker at the Uchiha as the jounin said, "Sorry, I'm late, but I had to go and find this stray kitten and various things happened along the way."

"Please come in," Naruto said as formally as he could, proud that his voice didn't waver even once with laughter. The jounin stepped inside and set the broody boy down as the blonde closed the gate behind them. "This way, please. The others are already here."

"Uwa, why it looks like Haku-san has been beating some manners into you, Naruto," the jounin said in an amused tone as he and the sulking Sasuke followed the blonde into the house, where the party was underway. Two of Naruto's Kage Bunshin were busy exchanging empty plates and platters with fresh ones full of food and topping off people's drinks.

"Damn, but it's troublesome seeing more than one of you, Naruto," Shikamaru said from where he lay on his side on the floor. Chouji sat next to him with a large serving platter of food that was rapidly being emptied. Ino and Sakura had both accosted Sasuke as soon as he entered the room and were sitting on either side of him, trying to fee him. Shino sat there as silently as ever, but Kiba was noisily digging into the food while Hinata ate daintily, but hesitantly.

Kurenai, Asuma and Iruka sat off to one side and Kakashi quickly joined them as they spoke to Teuchi and Ayame. The Sandaime sat at the head of the room and had lit his pipe to watch the entertainment while Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi made pests of themselves to the genin.

"Naruto, where did you learn to make such delicious food," Chouji asked while barely slowing down his eating, causing him to spray a little food. Ino immediately harped on him about not talking while he ate.

"I only helped a little bit," Naruto admitted while scratching the back of his head. "Haku-chan was the one who did most of the cooking. I just did what she told me to do."

"Eh, who's Haku," Kiba asked. While he was distracted, Akamaru took advantage of the opportunity to snatch more food off the boy's plate.

"Did you call for me, Naruto-sama," Haku asked as she opened the door from the kitchen and entered the room. Half the jaws in the room dropped in surprise, while the people who had already met her looked on in amusement.

"Ah, good timing, Haku-chan," Naruto replied cheerfully. "Everyone, this is Haku-chan. She came back with us from Nami no Kuni last month. Haku-chan, you've already met jiji, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura and Sasuke-teme. This is Teuchi-ossan and Ayame-neechan from Ichiraku ramen."

"It's a pleasure to meet the people who have taken such good care of Naruto-sama," Haku said as she knelt gracefully and gave the flustered pair a formal bow.

"Ah, please, you're embarrassing me," Teuchi said with a blush. "It's really no trouble at all since the kid's always been our most faithful customer."

"Naruto-kun's always been a pleasure to have around," Ayame beamed. "Even when he was in trouble for one of his pranks…"

"And this is Iruka-sensei," Naruto interrupted hastily before the ramen chef's daughter could drag out an embarrassing story about his childhood. "He was my sensei as the Academy and my friend after he let me graduate."

"It's an honor, Iruka-san," Haku said, giving the chuunin another formal bow.

"I wish I could say it's been a pleasure," Iruka replied dryly, "but Naruto was too much of a hell raiser for me to say that truthfully."

The blonde stuck out his tongue at the scarred chuunin, causing most of the people to laugh. "The shrimp with the scarf is jiji's grandson, Konohamaru and his friends Moegi and Udon. The bearded guy is Sarutobi Asuma-sensei and the pretty lady next to him is Yuuhi Kurenai-sensei; they're the jounin-sensei for teams 8 and 10. The one eating all the food is Akimichi Chouji, the lazy one is Nara Shikamaru and the blonde over there by emo-boy is Yamanaka Ino. The only female genin in the room not draped over the bastard is Hyuuga Hinata, the guy with the sunglasses is Aburame Shino and that's Akamaru and his boy, Inuzuka Kiba."

Akamaru barked sharply in response and wagged his tail, causing the room to break out in laughter as Kiba let out a protest. Hinata opened and closed her mouth a few times before working up the courage to ask Haku a question. "Ano, Haku-san," Hinata started hesitantly. "What exactly is your relationship to Naruto-kun? I mean, I don't remember him living with anyone before…"

"Naruto-sama is my goshujin-sama," Haku answered serenely, "and I am his property." Half the room spat out their drinks and the rest started to try and talk over each other. Hinata turned bright red and fainted with a trickle of blood running down from her nose.

"Naruto, you lucky bastard," Kiba yelled exuberantly while Shino's eyebrows rose almost to his hairline.

"You always were the most troublesome person, Naruto," Shikamaru sighed, while Chouji let the hours d'ourves he was about to eat slip through his numb fingers. With a speed rarely seen in the large boy, he caught the morsel before it hit the ground and made him commit the mortal sin of wasting food.

"Naruto, I knew you were a pain," Ino growled, "but to force yourself on an innocent girl like that…"

"What are you talking about," Naruto asked in confusion. "Haku-chan agreed to it…" That just seemed to make the blonde even more angry as she sputtered incoherently. He was distracted from the fuming Yamanaka by a tug at eh sleeve of his yukata by Konohamaru.

"Ne, Naruto-niisan," the boy said. "Does that mean she's your…" Konohamaru lifted his hand and curled his pinky in a suggestive gesture that was used to indicate a lover. Haku blushed prettily as Naruto turned red and stammered out an unconvincing denial only to be cut off by the Sandaime's hearty laughter.

"I think I'd better settle this before it spirals out of control," the Hokage said as everyone turned to look at him. "Haku has given Naruto an oath of fealty to serve Naruto as a retainer, nothing more."

"You took all the fun out of it, Hokage-sama," Haku said with a pout. The rest of the guests broke out in a nervous, relieved laughter and regular conversation resumed as the Kage Bunshins began to serve dinner. _It probably isn't as good as what some clan chefs could produce_, Naruto considered, _but it's a good solid meal anyway. Even if there is no ramen_.

* * *

The evening was well underway and the temperature had fallen enough to bring a little chill to an old man's bones. While Konoha never saw a true winter as the some of the Elemental countries did, the temperature did drop significantly at the end of the year. The Sandaime sat on the veranda with his pipe and a small bottle of hot sake, enjoying the relaxing evening as he listened to the babble of the party's other guests.

"Do you need your sake warmed again, Hokage-sama," Haku asked as she ghosted up behind the old man.

"No, I'm fine," the Sandaime replied as he puffed on his pipe. "But please have a seat. There's something that I've been meaning to discuss with you, but the time never seemed quite right."

"As you wish, Hokage-sama," Haku said as she settled herself off to his side. She picked up the bottle of sake and refilled his saucer.

"Thank you, Haku," Sarutobi said as he shifted a little in discomfort. "I don't want to take you away from the party for very long, but I wanted to ask your help in a certain matter regarding Naruto."

"Of course, Hokage-sama," Haku replied cheerfully. "I'll do everything I can for Naruto-sama."

"Hmm, how do I put this," the old man mused. "I guess the best way to say it is that I'm going to need your help finding Naruto a wife."

"A wife, Hokage-sama," Haku asked, tilting her head to the side in a show of confusion. "Isn't he a little young to be marrying already?"

"Well, he can't marry for another year," the Hokage allowed, "but in order to cement the clan's position, he's going to need to marry as soon as possible. Preferably someone from a prestigious family as well, but that isn't the primary concern."

"I see," Haku said thoughtfully. "So he needs a marriage before the other clans will accept him as legitimate and not as a political ploy you have made?"

"Basically," Sarutobi answered, "but finding him a bride from the families in the village is going to be difficult, if not impossible due to the discrimination against him. Since you've bound yourself to him as a vassal, you're no longer eligible to become his legal wife. That's too bad, since your bloodline would bring a lot of respect to the union."

"I don't think I would have been an appropriate bride for Naruto-sama," Haku stated, "however, I am both willing and able to serve as a concubine to increase the numbers of the clan."

"Loyalty's not the only reason, is it," the Sandaime asked, turning to look at the kunoichi whose flush was visible in the moonlight.

"Naruto-sama has a…way about him," Haku said slowly. "I will admit that I've been very strongly attracted to him since our first meeting, a sensation that is unusual for me, but I've certainly developed deeper feelings than mere loyalty in the time I have served him. Naruto-sama is a very rare and special young man and I wish to stand behind him and support him for the rest of my life."

The Hokage didn't reply for a long moment, content to merely puff on his pipe as he considered the situation. "The chuunin exam will be held in Konoha this coming spring. I'm hoping that Kakashi will nominate his team for it, but regardless there will be many kunoichi from other villages arriving to take the exam with their teams. It is possible that Naruto may find someone there of interest to him, but realistically we should look at the prospects in the village wherever we can find them."

"The Hyuuga girl, Hinata, seems to have some feelings for Naruto-sama," Haku offered. "I have often caught sight of her watching him as I observed his training from afar."

"Hinata, eh," the Hokage mused. "Who would have thought? Unfortunately, that is not a very good choice for the boy. The Hyuuga have an intense dislike for him that only partly comes from the burden he bears. Their attitude has led them to being the victims of many of the boy's pranks over the years. Sarutobi chuckled as he remembered some of the amusing things the blonde had done to the stoic clan. Dying all of their white garments pink had been incredibly amusing since not even bleach had been able to wash out the color. Strangely enough, all the white cloth in the village had mysteriously disappeared at the same time. The entire Hyuuga clan had been forced to wear the pink for over a week before they were able to replace the offending garments.

"I will keep an eye out for suitable candidates, Hokage-sama," Haku promised serenely, "however the ultimate choice will lie with Naruto-sama."

"In the mean time, perhaps you should…" Sarutobi started with a blush.

"Prepare him for the idea," Haku suggested diplomatically, a small smile on her face. "I think I can do that, now that we have settled in. Hmm, the large furo does offer some interesting possibilities.

Sarutobi was just glad that the low light allowed him to hide the nosebleed that was forming as he contemplated what Naruto was in for.

A/N:

Goshujin-sama is a term with two general connotations. The first refers to a master in a master/servant relationship. The other is a formal reference to a woman's husband.


	11. Chapter 11

Warning: This chapter contains citrus flavored elements. If that offends you, skip the first section of the chapter.

Naruto sighed as he looked at the black hakama and hi that lay set out for him to wear. He hadn't really understood the idea behind the traditional visit to the shrine on New Year's day, but he accepted that Haku knew what she was talking about. She had, after all, been the one reading up on clan etiquette and forcing it into his thick skull with the patience of a saint. _But why did the clothes have to be black_, he thought mournfully.

"I'll look as emo as Sasuke-teme," the blonde grumbled as he dressed carefully, making sure that everything hung straight along the seams. He didn't really care how he looked, but anytime he neglected to take care of his appearance Haku pulled out her puppy dog eyes and Naruto found himself willing to do anything she wanted him to.

"Are you ready, Naruto-sama," Haku called out as she opened the door of his room, making the blonde jump nervously. Ever since they'd had the housewarming party three months before, the blonde had found that he no longer had any privacy at all. Haku came into the room whether he was dressing, undressing or even bathing. Naruto found himself blushing as he remembered all the times recently when she had walked into the bathroom while he was cleaning up and offered to scrub his back for him. It hadn't helped that she'd only been wearing a very thin, sheer robe that left little to the imagination.

"Yeah, I guess so," Naruto grumbled. "I just feel like I'm going to a funeral in all this black." He noticed that Haku was wearing a black kimono for a change, with an orange hibiscus pattern that repeated across the fabric in a way Naruto found rather appealing.

"In a sense, you are going to a funeral, Naruto-sama," the kunoichi replied as she stepped forward and twitched his collar straight, brushing some dust off his shoulder as her hands moved down. "The New Year's ceremony is a way of laying the previous year to rest before celebrating the advent of the new. Now, we should go before the crowds at the shrine become unmanageable. I've already prepared some mochi for afterwards."

"Mm, Okay," Naruto said as he offered Haku his arm and led her outside. They paused long enough to put on the geta that Haku insisted they wear and the blonde felt slightly uncomfortable as he tried to keep hi balance on the platform sandals. Thankfully, they slowed the two of them down enough that he was able to keep from falling over and embarrassing the both of them. Haku was, as always, the picture of grace and poise as she walked along besides him.

The shrine was located at the base of the Hokage Mountain that loomed over Konoha and was rumored to have been built by the Shodaime Hokage as an appeasement to the spirits of the land for building the village there. A small crowd had already gathered by the time Naruto and Haku arrived, although few of them were wearing finery like the two of them. It only took ten minutes to make their offerings and prayers, so Naruto pulled Haku along to collect their fortunes for the coming year.

"Hmm, I got good fortune," Naruto said as he read the little slip of paper. "My luck will turn for the better and…my love life will prosper! Ack, what does it mean by that?"

"It's nothing but superstition, Naruto-sama," Haku said cheerfully, tucking her fortune up her sleeve. It had great fortune written on it and said that all obstacles will be removed, leading to your ultimate goal. "Oh, there's a stand selling sweet sake over there, Naruto-sama. We should have some to celebrate."

"But we're too young to drink," Naruto protested as the kunoichi pulled him over to where girls dressed as mikos were ladling the sake into cups.

"Nonsense, Naruto-sama, sweet sake has very little alcohol and is allowed to be served to minors," Haku corrected as she claimed two of the cups. "Besides, when you became a genin you became an adult in the eyes of the law, so you could drink if you wanted to."

"Well, I guess it's all right then." Naruto gave in and took one of the cups from Haku and sipped it before commenting, "Hey, this **is** sweet."

"They make it every year especially for the New Year's festival," Haku explained. "Or at least that was what I was told about it." Naruto nodded as he finished the rest of his cup and went back for another with a slight flush on his cheeks. After his third cup, the blonde hiccupped and began to sway in place a little. "Naruto-sama, are you all right? You seem to be…Naruto-sama, are you drunk?"

"Eh? I'm fine, jusht fine, Haku-chan," Naruto slurred in a singsong voice as he continued to sway in place. "Thish shtuff ish really good. Maybe you should try shome, Haku-chan."

"I think that you have had enough for now, Naruto-sama," Haku said with a worried look marring her pretty face. "We should head home now, so that we're not caught in the crowd later."

"Aww, but I wash jusht starting to have fun," Naruto whined. He hiccupped violently and looked incredibly surprised, while Haku took hi arm with a sight and started to lead him home.

The trip back to the compound was fortunately uneventful, but the blonde couldn't understand why the world wouldn't stay still. It was like he was in a boat like in Nami no Kuni where the waves kept bouncing the boat up and down. Only he was on dry land right now and the ground was still moving up and down. _It must be some kind of conspiracy_, the blonde thought fuzzily. _There's no way the ground would move like that unless someone was making it move!_

Haku's firm grip on his arm kept the blonde on course as the two of them approached the house. When Haku had to let go of his arm to unlock the doors, Naruto staggered to the side and reached for one of the swords he normally wore strapped to the small of his back only to find empty air. _Damn, I forgot that I wasn't armed_, the blonde castigated himself.

"Naruto-sama, what are you doing," Haku asked curiously from where she stood by the now open gates. Naruto turned quickly to look at her, but moved a little too quickly as his vision started getting blurry and there was a definite sense of vertigo.

"It'sh a conshpiracy," Naruto slurred as he put a hand to his head to try and make the world stop spinning. "They waited until I wash unarmed and…they musht have poishoned me!"

"Naruto-sama," Haku said soothingly as she approached and took the hand on hi head in both of hers. "N one has poisoned you. Apparently, your system is very weak against even the small amount of alcohol contained in the sweet sake."

"You mean that I'm drunk," a surprised Naruto asked as he blinked at the kunoichi. _Wow, her hands feel so nice_, he thought fuzzily.

"I'm afraid so, Naruto-sama," she answered regretfully. "No one is currently out to get you and the odd effects are the result of your inebriation. We should get you inside and into the bath as soon as possible. The alcohol will dehydrate you badly and water can be absorbed through the skin while the heat will force you to sweat out the alcohol that's in your system."

"Wow, Haku-chan," Naruto slurred with an awed tone, "you're sho shmart!"

"Come along, Naruto-sama." The blonde found himself led into the house and directly into the bathroom, where Haku leaned him against the wall while she turned on the little furnace that would heat the soaking pool. He didn't resist as she started undressing him, but was very startled when she untied his hakama pants and left him standing there in only a pair of orange boxers with little green frogs on them. Haku tried to remove those as well, but Naruto grabbed the waistband and held them up while blushing fiercely.

"I can do thish myshelf, Haku-chan," the blonde insisted while swaying back on his feet slightly. Haku frowned at him, then smiled with a gleam in her eyes Naruto had never remembered seeing before. She reached back and untied the bow on her obi, causing it to loosen and spill to the ground around her. Her kimono gaped open over the inner wrap she wore underneath and the blonde felt his jaw drop as the kunoichi opened the garments and shrugged her shoulders, causing them to slide off her and onto the floor in a whisper of silk over flesh.

And there was a lot of it. Flesh that is, as Naruto saw Haku fully nude for the first time. Oh, he'd caught glimpses of flesh before and he'd looked at porn magazines to get things right for his Oiroke no jutsu, but he'd never seen a woman completely bare like this. _I didn't know that Haku-chan wasn't wearing underwear_, he thought numbly. His eyes traveled over the pale, smooth skin, rising up the trim legs and noting the small patch of dark hair between her legs as his attention was drawn upward. Her taut stomach gave rise to a pair of small, if perky and firm breasts, but Naruto found his gaze fixating on the large scar in the valley between them.

"Godsh, Haku-chan, ish that what I did to you," the blonde asked in a voice choked by sorrow. He started to reach out and touch it, but stopped when he realized he would be touching the chest of a very naked girl.

"Do not concern yourself over the scar, Haku said soothingly as she moved forward and took his hand, placing it over the scar. "While it looks quite fearsome, all the damage behind it has been healed. Now, let me get these off you and we can get you cleaned up."

"I can myshelf clean," Naruto declared, his face falling apart in confusion as he tried to figure out what he'd just said.

"I'm afraid that you cannot, Naruto-sama," Haku replied as her nimble fingers slipped the boxers over his hips, letting gravity take them the rest of the way. "Now please have a seat."

Naruto felt himself tip over as Haku gave him a slight push. He would have fallen had his legs not given out first and he would up on the floor with a slightly stinging rear while the kunoichi stood over him with her hands on her hips. She glared at him sternly while he dragged his eyes off her nudity and levered himself up onto the small stool in front of the faucet and showerhead. He heard Haku slide the clothes away and was reaching for the soap when a smaller hand grabbed it before he could and whisked it out of sight.

"Just try to relax, Naruto-sama," Haku said, her breath tickling the hairs on the back of the blonde's neck, "and let me do all of the work." Naruto almost leaped to his feet in shock as Haku's soft hands began soaping up his back, but soon settled down as he realized there was nothing he could do. Haku ruled the house after all, despite the face that Naruto was the official head of the clan.

The blonde felt his mind drift away as he lost himself in the pleasant motions of the kunoichi's hands across his back. He didn't notice the change until he realized that he could feel her hands washing his chest and something warm and firm was pressing against his back and rubbing in a very pleasant manner. He opened his mouth to protest, but it was cut off with a squeak as Haku's hands slipped south of the equator and began massaging parts no one other than Naruto had ever touched before.

"Haku-chan, wh-what are you doing," Naruto stammered as the last shreds of the alcoholic fog he'd been drifting in were blown away. Not that the sensations her actions were causing were unpleasant, but Naruto had spent a great deal of effort over the last couple of years trying to keep that sort of feeling under as much control as possible.

"Just relax, Naruto-sama, and enjoy this," Haku purred into his ear, her chest rubbing against his back even more and eliciting a whole new set of delightful feelings as her hands worked on him. "You're very tense tight now, so let me take care of it for you."

"Haku-chan," Naruto groaned, "you don't have to do this." The blonde felt his breathing grow faster as the kunoichi massaged him, sending jolts of pleasure running through him.

"So you want me to stop," she asked in a teasing voice as she paused in her ministrations, eliciting a frustrated groan from Naruto. "I'm not doing this out of obligation, Naruto-sama. When I told you that I belonged to you, there was more than one layer of meaning in my promise. Didn't Kakashi-san teach you to look underneath the underneath?" Haku's hands became busy again and he let out a groan of pleasure as he climaxed and his body went limp in her arms. "Now, let's get you rinsed off and into the furo, ne?"

* * *

Winter in Konoha was not a very severe time, thought the temperature did drop low enough to require most people to wear a coat and the fallen leaves became packed and slippery with the winter rains that came with regular frequency. Naruto found himself confined to the house for most of the time during the winter months, as Kakashi seemed reluctant to even try training sessions for fear the foul weather would destroy his precious books. The jounin did give them a lot of scrolls to read through, though, and this did help pass some of the time. Naruto was still felling restless, however, and could often be found sting on the veranda with a scroll on his lap, watching the late winter rain.

The blonde had been somewhat upset after the events of New Years, but he'd been dressed down by Haku for not considering her feelings. For someone who presented the perfect picture of a demure and submissive woman, the kunoichi could be downright fierce when she felt someone was either trying to get her not to do something she felt was necessary or when they interfered with what she felt was her duty. Naruto had been terribly embarrassed by what had happened, but Haku had been very firm in telling him that her oath of fealty made it both her duty and privilege to ensure his health and well-being in all ways. Then she gave him a saucy smile and asked if he was upset because he hadn't enjoyed it or if it was because he hadn't gotten the opportunity to return the favor.

_Girls are crazy_, the blonde though as he watched the rain fall for a few minutes before returning his attention to the scroll Kakashi had given him on elemental manipulation. The jounin had said that he normally wouldn't have given a genin information like this, but he'd already learned how to do it so he should have access to all the knowledge he could get his hands on.

_Let's see_, Naruto thought as his eyes skimmed through the scroll. _That's kind of weird. It says that wind is one of the most difficult elements to successfully manipulate, followed by lightning and fire, due to its lack of substance. Man, I never had any trouble making my chakra wind-natured. Let's see if there's anything about that…_

Naruto read for another hour before his eyes started to ache with strain. The scroll was obviously intended to help shinobi convert their normal neutral chakra into an elementally aligned one and that didn't help him out one bit. A slight sound of the shoji being opened warned the blonde that Haku was stepping out onto the veranda. He turned to see her holding a tray with a teapot and some taiyaki that she'd bought the day before at the market.

"I thought you might be ready for a break around now, Naruto-sama," the kunoichi said as she set the tray down and knelt beside it to pour the tea. Naruto accepted the proffered drink with a sigh as he picked dup one of the fish shaped pastries and bit into it, enjoying the sweet taste of the bean paste in the center.

"Ne, Haku-chan," the blonde asked when he'd swallowed his first mouthful, "do you have any trouble with the elemental manipulation used when you use your Hyouton jutsu?"

Haku sipped her tea as she considered the question for a moment before giving her answer. "No, Naruto-sama, I don't have any trouble with using my Hyouton's ice affinity," she replied. "When I use the wind or water affinities it's more difficult, but not as difficult as I am told learning an affinity from the beginning can be. That is because my bloodline gives me the power to control these elements naturally."

"That's what I thought," Naruto sighed. "Kakashi-sensei gave me this scroll on elemental affinities to read, but it's been pretty useless for me since all the chakra I produce is wind natured and not neutral like a normal person's."

"Most unusual, Naruto-sama," Haku said, staring at the blonde intently. "Even my bloodline does not make all of my chakra elementally natures. The conversion process is much simpler because of it, but my chakra has the same neutral base that all shinobi…no, all people have. I've never hears of anything that would make someone's chakra change completely like that before, save that it might be a side effect of the burden you bear."

"Kyuubi," Naruto asked in surprise. "Nah, that's not too likely. Jiji said that the fox was aligned towards fire, although it was able to affect all the elements. That was because it was the strongest of the bijuu, though, not because of any affinity it had."

"Hmm, no bloodline that I have ever heard of has managed to create the effects that you have described," Haku mused. "But…Naruto-sama, how much do you know about the origins of the bloodlines in the ninja clans?"

"Not much," the blonde admitted, "and it's not cause I never paid attention neither. The Academy teachers didn't talk about it much, except to say that the clans developed them over several generations of careful breeding."

"That is correct…in a sense," Haku sighed. "Bloodlines have their origins ins one of four things. The first is summoning a minor youkai and sealing it into a man or woman and then undergoing an extensive breeding program. This is how the vast majority of clans got their bloodlines…"

"What! You mean that all of those stuck up Hyuugas and Uchihas," Naruto snarled angrily, "have always treated me like shit and they got their damn eyes by making someone like me?"

"That is most likely, Naruto-sama," Haku agreed. "That is how the most powerful bloodlines were generated. The second way is by using seals to manipulate specific attributes and then try and breed them true. This is where the second tier of clans like Konoha's Akimichis and Naras most likely came from. The third type of genesis is by experimenting directly with people and turning them into monsters. The Sannin Orochimaru is said to have practiced such things and that was what lead to his banishment from Konoha. The final type of creation is more of a legend than an accepted fact. It is achieved by making a pact with the king of a type of elemental spirits. These people were said to be immensely powerful and capable of feats that are normally the realms fantasy, even for those of us in the ninja world with our abilities it is considered a fairy tale.

"These Contractors, as they were called, passed their abilities down through their bloodlines and were people of astonishing power," Haku informed the blonde. "While it sounds far-fetched, this is the only way that I can explain your powers and the way they work."

"And jiji's never been willing to tell me who my parents were," the blonde muttered. He put up a hand to forestall Haku's indignation as he continued, "I'm sure that he has what he considers very good reasons for keeping things secret, but I'm worried that if it is true that it will hinder my chance to learn how to really control the power that I have."

"Well," Haku started hesitantly, "the stories say that the Contractor's powers came directly from the spirits of the element they wielded. It may just be a waste of time, but why don't you try and contact those spirits…"

"Haku-chan, that's the best idea I've heard all day," the blonde said cheerfully.

* * *

The rain had stopped for the day and Naruto had perched himself on top of a flat rock that sat a short way from the house in the middle of what Haku was converting into a meditative rock garden. She'd wanted to move the stone to a more aesthetically pleasing position, but Naruto had managed to hold his ground for once, so the rock stayed where it was. The blonde liked the rock because it was a lot like him. It stuck out in a unique way among the carefully cultivated garden like a seed of chaos in the middle of perfect order and that appealed to his sense of irony.

Naruto had positioned himself in the traditional lotus position they had taught him in the Academy for meditation, but did not seek inward like he'd been told. No, if Haku was right, the blonde had to stretch outside of himself and try to touch the nature spirits that the priests often referred to as existing in all things. It didn't help that he had never been particularly successful at meditating before. They always said to picture yourself in a peaceful meadow or by a babbling brook, but Naruto always found himself ankle deep in the water of a sewer before waking up.

The blonde slowed his breathing, letting the tension flow from his body and reached out on the wind with his senses. This was something new that Naruto had discovered recently while practicing privately with his wind chakra. He'd been using it to cause the air to gel and stop senbon that Haku had been throwing at him, trying to lessen the concentration the maneuver took. That's when he'd noticed it. He was suddenly able to tell where the leaves were falling, where the squirrels and rabbits were moving through the underbrush and where Haku was by the displacement they created in the air around them.

A sudden movement made Naruto open his eyes to see what looked like little balls of blue light darting around. They were everywhere he looked moving along the breezes, but seemed to be especially thick around him. The blonde carefully lifted one hand up and extended a finger towards one of the lights, feeling a jolt of energy run through him as one of them came to rest on his finger. The glow dimmed and his eyes widened as a little winged girl was revealed where the blue ball of light had been. She looked perfectly ordinary, if you overlooked the wings, the fact that she was only about two inches long from head to toe and that she obviously chose not to wear clothes.

"Hello," Naruto said softly, worried that he might scare her off. She cocked her head and looked up at him, her mouth opening and closing but making no noise that the blonde could hear.

"I'm sorry, but I can't hear you," he told her. The tiny girl crossed her arms over her chest and pouted for a minute before perking up and taking flight. She hovered in place, taking Naruto's finger in her arms and tugging insistently. _Looks like she wants me to go somewhere with her_, the blonde thought as he rose to his feet and got down off the rock. The miniature girl darted forward at a remarkable speed, forcing him to run in order to keep up.

He raced across town, unheeding of the stares he drew as he dashed through the streets staring up at the sky. The flying fairy, since Naruto couldn't think of another term that really suited the tiny girl, led him up to the top of Mount Hokage and kept going past the heads. The blonde had never ventured into the areas on the other side of the mountain, although he knew that ANBU's prison was supposed to be out there somewhere, and almost lost sight of his guide several times before she stopped. The fairy hovered over the edge of a cliff as she beckoned him forward, all the way to the edge before indicating that he should stop.

The fairy turned back into the glowing ball of light and Naruto suddenly noticed that the air was practically swarming with similar lights. They began to move in a predictable pattern in the air and the blonde nearly yelped in surprise as an ornate pair of very tall doors appeared in the air. The doors cracked open and a blue light leaked out, growing brighter and brighter until Naruto was forced to shield his eyes with his arm. There was a sudden flash and implosion of air, and when he dared peek out from behind his arm he realized that he was now somewhere completely different.

Naruto no longer stood on the cliff edge, instead he was now on a disk of blue light in the middle of a black void. "Is anyone out there," he called out, a little startled that there wasn't even an echo from the dark. A glow began to form in the distance, moving closer until it resolved into the pair of doors that he had seen before ending up here. They came to a stop right next to the edge of the platform he stood on, so Naruto shrugged and gave one of the doors an experimental push with one hand. The doors swung open easily at his touch, revealing a columned hall that extended up to a set of stairs that led up to a dais with a throne on it.

"Enter, young one," a deep resonant voice said, making the blonde jump. He shrugged again and stepped inside, noting that the doors swung closed slowly behind him as he passed through.

"Who are you," Naruto asked. It was weird here, but the blonde felt strangely comfortable even though he should probably be nervous and apprehensive. It was kind of like coming home after a very long time away.

I am the Kaze no Seirei no Ou, the king of the wind spirits," the voice answered. Naruto continued to move forward, seeing a shape shimmering hazily on the throne at the end of the hall. As he reached the base of the stairs, Naruto looked up to see a vaguely translucent shape of a man sitting on the throne like a still fog sitting over water.

"Why did you bring me here," the blonde asked, a creeper of worry beginning to worm itself through the wall of his confidence.

"My daughter brought you here because you have been yearning to return," the figure replied.

"But I've never been anywhere like this in my life," Naruto protested.

"Not physically," the figure replied calmly. "Your spirit visited us before you were born into your world, as have the spirits of your ancestors ever since Kazuma made the Contract with me. You spirit was imbued like your mother's with a fraction of the power of the wind, but the share has been growing less and less over the centuries."

"Really," Naruto asked excitedly as he'd never heard anyone actually talk about his parents.

"Yes, Kushina returned her share of the power with her death shortly after your birth," the figure said, "which led me to check on you. You are the last of your line to have received the power of the wind and I am not sure if it will continue to be passed down now that you have the beast sealed inside of you."

"You know about the Kyuubi," Naruto stated with a sinking feeling of dread.

"Indeed I do," the enthroned figure replied. "The beast is one of the rogue elemental incarnations that once laid waste to your world. A group of several powerful men summoned them into the world and sought to bind their powers for their own purposes, but it was a futile effort. No mortal can command the power of and unconstrained bijuu. Only through sealing them into jinchuuriki can the power be drawn upon and even then it is not safe. The bijuu's chakra will slowly poison its host and over time the seal will begin to degrade from having the power drawn through it."

"You mean that if I used the Kyuubi's chakra, he'll break free," Naruto asked, terror growing in the pit of his stomach.

"Not immediately," the figure reassured the blonde. "The more of its power that you pull, the weaker the seal becomes. The slight amount that the seal channels into your body to augment it is safe enough, but trying to pull so much as a single tail's worth is a risky proposition. That is why most of your wind power has been consumed by countering the beast's attempts to influence you."

"My power's been protecting me," the blonde asked in surprise, "but I can do so much stuff with my wind!"

"What you have been able to do is nothing compared to what your potential would have been," the figure explained. "Your mother was the only survivor of the massacre of her clan and country, but she'd already been gifted her power. You were the one who inherited the bulk of it, but it has never fully manifested due to the need to keep you out of the clutches of the bijuu. That is why I had you brought here."

"It is," Naruto asked, confused.

"Yes, I wish to renew the Contract with you family, Naruto," the figure said, it's eyes blazing blue. "As the Contractor of the Kaze no Seirei, the bijuu will no longer have its hold on you and you will have access to the full breadth of your power. Regretfully, I cannot remove the beast from you, as any attempt to do so would kill you, but if you accept…well, my Contractor has often been referred to as the Irresistible Force."

"I'll do it," Naruto exclaimed instantly. "Anything to keep that damn demon's paws off me. It's been hard enough having everyone know that it's there without knowing that someday it might break free of the seal."

"Truly, you have Kazuma's bravery and the same wounded soul," the figure murmured softly. In a louder voice, it continued, "Now, cut your hand and spread your blood upon my throne. Let the contract be made as it was long ago. Let the world tremble before the power of the Contractor of the Kaze no Seirei no Ou!"

"Naruto bit his thumb deeply and climbed the steps. He reached out, spreading his blood over the arm of the throne. Power burned through the blonde, making him scream in pain as blue energy began pouring out of him and the wind screamed into a gale around him.

When the pain receded and Naruto opened his eyes again, he found himself standing near the cliff edge where he'd first seen the doors appear. The blonde blinked when he realized that he was standing in empty air. Panic set I and Naruto thrashed about until he realized that he wasn't falling. "This is awesome," he exclaimed, pulling a little of the wind to him and shooting ff like a rocket.

It was hours later when Naruto reluctantly returned to the earth. He'd never imagined how wonderful it would feel to fly and he'd thoroughly enjoyed buzzing flights of birds and sending them scattering off in different directions. Eventually, he realized that Haku would start worrying about him as it began to get dark and brought himself down in the front of the compound.

"Naruto-sama," Haku called out as she rushed out of the house and embraced him. "I was so worried when you just disappeared without saying anything!" The normally serene girl looked frazzled and her eyes were a little red, possibly from crying.

"I'm sorry, Haku-chan," Naruto said contritely as he awkwardly patted the girl on the back. "I really wasn't thinking when I left, but I have to say it was worth it. Certain worries that I've always had are gone and I've actually learned something about my family."

"What happened, Naruto-sama," Haku asked. The blonde realized that he'd grown over the last few months as their heights almost matched now, whereas before he'd always been smothered in her bosom when she grew emotional.

"Well, it went like this," Naruto began.

* * *

"Maa, I'm glad you all showed up so promptly today," Kakashi said to the three genin who were staring at him like they'd seen a ghost. The jounin shifted uncomfortably under their eyes as they finally found their voices.

"You're on time," Sakura said in a terrified voice. "What happened? Did someone kill the Hokage? Did someone burn all of your disgusting books?"

"Maybe he's a fake, Sakura," Naruto offered, watching the jounin warily. "A spy wouldn't know that Kakashi-sensei always shows up late with his nose in his porn and a lame excuse…"

"If he's an imposter, then it's our duty to detain him," Sasuke said as a hand crept towards his kunai pouch.

"Very funny you three," Kakashi said irritably as the genin fell over in laughter. "I suppose you don't want to hear the good news I have for you then."

"Aww, come on, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto groaned. "You know we were just kidding…"

"Whatever," the jounin shrugged, although his eye curved up into a smile as he reached into one of his vest pockets and pulled out three pieces of paper. "I just thought you'd like to know that I've nominated you for the chuunin exam that starts next month."

"All right, Kakashi-sensei, you rock," Naruto exclaimed as the three genin ripped the papers out of the jounin's hands.

"Just fill out the papers and hold onto them until the exam," Kakashi told them. "You'll have to turn them in to me before the first exam starts. Now, onto the D-Rank missions!"

A/N:

Something I feel the need to explain to the general reading public, as I have already given the same information to a reviewer is that the name of the story, Kamikaze no Naruto does in no way refer to the bastardization of the term that occurred during World War 2 to refer to the suicide attacks via airplane. Kamikaze is a term from Japanese history and folklore that refers to a divine wind that protects the island of Japan from her enemies. It was given the credit for creating the Tsunami that wiped out the invading Korean fleet as well as other small incidents over the past two thousand years.

By the way, this is a bit of a crossover, although no characters from the other series will be showing up, just certain ideas.


	12. Chapter 12

Spring blossomed in Konoha with all the trees flowering and creating a potpourri of scents that completely covered the wood smoke and industrial odors. It was also the harbinger of the chuunin exams that were to be held in the village this year. Naruto had skipped out on his team meeting to enjoy the morning, only to have it ruined when Sakura found him and started yelling at him for leaving her and Sasuke alone to wait for their chronically late teacher. The blonde tried to ignore her as he walked down the street, but Sakura refused to let up and continued to berate him while following the blonde.

Naruto stopped abruptly in the middle of the street with a sigh, surprising Sakura into a temporary silence as he called out, "All right, Konohamaru, that disguise won't fool anyone. You might as well come out." The blonde turned to look at the square box that was badly painted to look like a rock, which rattled and went still.

"As expected of my rival," a high-pitched voice called out and there was a burst of smoke that cleared to reveal a coughing trio of Academy students. "Udon, you used too much gunpowder!"

"I swear, brat," Naruto growled fondly as he mock-glared at the boy. "You haven't gotten any better at that in the last year? What the hell have you being doing?"

"Hehe, someone had to keep up the tradition of giving Iruka-sensei trouble," the boy admitted, rubbing his finger across his nose. "But since we're on break right now, won't you play ninja with us, Naruto-niisan?"

"Why would he want to play ninja when he's already one," Sakura asked in confusion.

"I wasn't asking you," Konohamaru yelled at the kunoichi. "I'd only ask you something if I needed to see my reflection in your forehead!"

"Oh, that was the wrong thing to say," Naruto muttered while he stepped between his teammate and the three kids as Sakura began to growl and clench her hand into a fits. "I'd run if I were you, brat. I'll buy you a head start." The boy nodded and dashed off down the street.

"Why you little brat," Sakura growled finally as she tore off after the kids, followed by a groaning Naruto. He'd learned in the Academy that you only commented on Sakura's forehead if you were a masochist, had a death wish, or were Ino.

He kept pace with the group easily, glad to see that it was dissolving into a game of tag rather than a pursuit with intent to maim. The three Academy students led Sakura on a pretty good chase and it might have gone on longer had the Hokage's grandson not run smack dab into someone. The black clad ninja stood there glowering down at the boy, the face paint beneath the Suna hitai-ate making the scowl look especially fierce.

"Oi, what the hell do you think you're doing running into me like that," the teenager demanded as Sakura and Naruto came to a halt several feet away. The blonde noticed that kunoichi stood a few feet behind the other ninja, whose outfit reminded Naruto of a cat in many ways. She drew Naruto's eye away from the scene an rightly so. She wore a cropped shirt over a fishnet top and a wraparound miniskirt for easy movement. Her dark blonde hair was tied up in four pigtails over her green eyes and there was a large rectangular object slung across her back that Naruto belatedly realized was a large fan.

What truly drew Naruto's attention to the girl was the way the kaze no seirei were clustering around her. Most people had one or two of the little spirits darting around them and he knew that there were hundreds if not thousands around him at any given time, but seeing the dozens that were gathering around the Suna kunoichi gave him pause. It wasn't until he heard Sakura pleading with the black clad ninja that Naruto realized he had forgotten all about Konohamaru, who was now being held up by the front of his shirt while being threatened.

"Kankarou, you should let him go," the dark blonde girl complained, looking around uneasily. "We don't need trouble right now. You know how he'll react."

"Shut up, Temari," the black clad ninja growled as he glared at the squirming child he was holding up. "The brat ran into me and someone's got to teach him that there are some people that you don't mess around with."

_So her name's Temari_, Naruto thought absently as he moved forward and said, "You know, you really should listen to your teammate over there. You're Suna-nin, obviously here for the chuunin exam, so the last thing you want is to get disqualified for attacking the Hokage's grandson."

Konohamaru chose this moment to strike as he bent his head and sank his teeth into Kankarou's hand while he was distracted. The black clad teen cursed and reflexively let go of the Academy student, who landed on his feet and scampered behind Sakura to join his friends. The Suna-nin reached his hand towards a suspiciously large bundle that was strapped to his back. Naruto stepped forward and locked the other genin's wrist from moving any further.

"I really don't think you want to turn this into a brawl on the street," the blonde hissed as he stared down the other genin, who snorted and relaxed his arm. Naruto let go of the Suna-nin's wrist and turned to look at the other blonde. "Besides, I'd rather have a talk with Temari-chan over there. No offence, man, but you're not really my type."

Temari stared oddly at Naruto before asking, "And what exactly would you want to talk to me about, Konoha-nin?"

"Ouch. No need to be so cold, Temari-chan," Naruto grinned. "I just noticed that you're a wind user and that you're really hot, so I thought I'd see if you wanted to grab a bite to eat." Sakura, Kankarou and Temari all stared at the blonde in shock, a little of which Naruto found himself feeling as well. _What prompted me to hit on her_, he wondered. _I mean, I don't even know her and what about Haku-chan?_

"Are you seriously asking me out," Temari asked, an unusual tone in her voice and a slight blush on her cheeks. Naruto opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off as another Suna-nin appeared next to the first two in a swirl of sand. "Gaara," the dark blonde squeaked.

"Why are you wasting your time here," the flat unemotional voice said. Naruto took in the new arrival, noting the bright red hair, the pale skin, the tattoo over his dull green eyes, the dark marks under his eyes and the large gourd strapped across his back.

"Ah, no reason," Kankarou said swiftly, shooting a glance Naruto couldn't interpret at his teammate.

"Then we should go," Gaara ordered. "Baki-sensei is expecting us at the hotel and if we take any longer due to your clowning around, I will kill you." The redhead walked a few steps before stopping and turning to look at Naruto with a calculating gaze. "What is your name?"

"Eh, I'm Uzumaki Naruto," the blonde answered in confusion.

"There is something about you…if you are participating in the chuunin exam, we will meet again," Gaara stated before walking away, trailed by a nervous Kankarou and an apologetic looking Temari.

"Well, that was certainly creepy," Naruto murmured as the Suna-nin disappeared around the corner. "But damn, Temari-chan has a fine ass."

* * *

"Tadaima," Naruto called out as he stepped up onto the veranda, pausing to shed his sandals.

"Okaerinasai, Naruto-sama," Haku replied as one of the shoji slid open and the kunoichi stepped out. "How was your day?"

"Boring for the most part," he sighed. "Kakashi-sensei won't let us do anything too strenuous since the chuunin exam starts in three days, so I sipped out. The only exciting thing that happened was when I ran into a team from Suna and made one of them stop picking on Konohamaru."

"That does sound interesting, Naruto-sama," Haku smiled, "but there's something about them that bothers you, isn't there?"

"Damn, but it's creepy how you always know stuff like that," the blonde muttered as he sat down on the veranda and leaned against the wood of the wall of the house. "Yeah, there were a couple of odd things. There was this creepy guy called Gaara that seemed oddly interested in something about me and I doubt it's anything flattering."

"Well, you are an attractive young man, Naruto-sama," Haku teased, "perhaps he's fallen for you?"

"Okay, I think that's going to haunt my nightmares for the rest of my like, Haku-chan," the blonde shuddered. "The thing that bothered me the most, though, was one of the guy's teammates."

"Was this person creepy as well," Haku asked with a smile for her nervous master as she knelt down beside him.

"no, she was just plain hot," Naruto replied without thinking. When he realized what he'd just said, the blonde turned to look Haku in the eyes. He expected her to be upset, but curiosity was all that he could read in the kunoichi's expression.

"Really," the girl said, an eyebrow raising, "so what drew you to her, Naruto-sama?"

"Well, she had kaze no seirei all around her," Naruto replied cautiously. "Not as many as I do, but lots more than anyone else I've ever seen and she was pretty too. Right about your age, Haku-chan, although I'm not sure what made me ask her out like that..."

"You asked her out?" Haku let out a squeal and grabbed Naruto in a fierce hug that left the blonde extremely confused. "Did she accept?"

"Um, no," Naruto replied weakly, "we kinda got interrupted before she answered and the whole group left when that Gaara guy showed up."

"Oh, poo," Haku pouted, drawing a disbelieving stare from the blonde.

"Okay, I'm a little confused here," Naruto complained. "How come you're all happy and excited that I felt attracted to another girl. I thought…I mean, after all those things you did…that you'd be more jealous…"

"You don't understand, Naruto-sama," Haku said softly as she wrapped her arms around Naruto. He struggled briefly against her grasp, but settled down against her shoulder when it became obvious that she wouldn't let go. "I've known since the beginning that I would never be able to be your wife, Naruto-sama. While I love you and continue to find out more about you every day, my oath of fealty prevents me from being anything more than your concubine. No, don't interrupt, Naruto-sama. Please allow me to finish.

"Recently, I have been helping you to ease certain…tensions, since you are still a year away from being legally able to consummate a marriage," Haku continued, oblivious to the blush spreading across Naruto's face. "One of my duties as your retainer and as someone who loves you dearly id to ensure that you marry someone of appropriate station and ability for the good of the clan. While I would definitely find myself happier if your future wife allows me certain privileges, your purity should be maintained until you are married. Now, who is this Suna-nin that has caught your eye?"

"Her name was Temari," Naruto answered weakly. "Are you really sure about all of this, Haku-chan? Cause I really care about you, even if I did feel that attraction to Temari-chan…"

"Oh, so it's Temari-chan already, is it," Haku asked teasingly as she stroked the blonde's hair. "While I am glad that you care for me as well, Naruto-sama, I must admit that I was beginning to worry that you didn't find girls attractive. You certainly never comment about them or even look too much, despite your Oiroke no jutsu…"

"That's cause I'm not a pervert like Kakashi-sensei and lots of the other adult ninja around here," Naruto growled. "I don't want to be like that, so I'm always careful not to look at anything I'm not supposed to."

"Oh, Naruto-sama, that's really very sweet," Haku sighed, "but it's also the wrong way to go about things."

"What do you mean," the blonde asked.

"Well, your teammate Sasuke ignores all of the girls and they take it as a challenge to get him to notice them," the kunoichi pointed out. "Women take great pride in their appearance and if you don't look when we want you to, it's an insult. Women also expect a man to take notice even when they're seeing something they're not supposed to."

"But that doesn't make sense," Naruto grumbled. "Guys are supposed to look whether they want us to or not? Don't women hit guys and get upset over things like that?"

"It's an even bigger insult if the man doesn't look, Naruto-sama," Haku explained. "Don't worry about not understanding it. Men are not capable of understanding women, since their emotional range is usually too limited. You don't have to become a rampant pervert, but you need to learn how to appropriately appreciate the female form."

"How am I going to do that," Naruto asked.

"I'll acquire some…instructional materials," Haku replied delicately. "Hmm, I'll have to investigate this Temari-chan for you and see if she is the right girl for you, Naruto-sama."

"But isn't the guy supposed to decide if the girl is right for him," Naruto asked in confusion.

"Don't be silly, Naruto-sama," Haku replied dismissively. "Women always make that determination. We just don't want to disappoint the men by telling them that."

* * *

"Oi, Temari, what the hell's wrong with you," Kankarou asked gruffly, shocking his older sister out of the funk she'd been in. "You've been acting weird ever since we ran into those brats back on the street…Don't tell me that you actually wanted to go out with the twerp in orange?"

"Like you get asked out on many dates, Kankarou," the dark blonde snapped back irritably. "It felt kind of good to have a guy ask me out like that, even if we don't have time for that sort of thing."

"I get asked out plenty," Kankarou sulked as he sat against the wall of the hotel room the three Suna genin were sharing.

"No, you spend all of your time at home playing with your dolls," Temari snapped back, "and for the same reason I spend all of my time training. Gaara."

"The male genin was silent for a long moment before he looked at his sister, who was sitting on the windowsill watching the activities of the street below. "Did you hear what Gaara said to him, Temari," the puppeteer said softly. "Even id the kid is weird and asked you out like that, he's attracted Gaara's interest and that's pretty much signed his death sentence."

"I know," Temari sighed as she leaned her head back and laid her arm across her eyes. "Sometimes I wish that Kazekage-sama had succeeded in killing him off all those years ago. Maybe then people wouldn't be so afraid of getting close to us out of fear of him squishing them like a piece of overripe fruit."

"It's no use wishing things like that," Kankarou said sadly as he reached into a paper bag and pulled out a small orange book. "We both know that we're going to die at Gaara's hands sooner or later, so we need to take our pleasures where we can find them."

"Like you and your porn," Temari sighed as her younger brother giggled in a disturbing manner. She shook her head and rose to her feet, tucking the battle fan into its sling on her shoulder. "We still have two more days before the exam starts, so I'm going to head down to the onsen district to relax. Try and remember that so Baki-sensei won't let Gaara kill you tonight. I can never sleep when his sand stinks of blood."

The Suna kunoichi stepped out of the room and closed the door on her brother, shaking her head as he giggled again. _Honestly_, she thought, _when did he turn into such a big pervert?_ Heaving a sigh, she left the inn and headed out into the crowded street, trying to remember which way to go to reach the resort district. She wound up having to ask for directions several times since Konoha, like all ninja villages, was built like amaze to make it more defensible.

"Ah, Temari-chan," a familiar voice called out as she crossed one of the streets. The dark blonde turned to see the genin from earlier that day standing there with his arms crossed behind his head and a broad smile on his face. A petite, dark haired young woman wearing a white kimono stood beside him and bowed deeply to her.

"I didn't think you'd have the guts to show up again," Temari said sardonically, though feeling a little happy inside to see him again. She cocked an eyebrow at the pair noting how comfortable they were together and couldn't help but feel a touch of jealousy. After all, he'd been the one interested in her. _Are they teammates_, she wondered before changing her opinion. _No, she's set herself to guard him while taking a subservient position. Damn, she's good too, not even leaking a bit of chakra._

"Why wouldn't I have tried to find you, Temari-chan," Naruto asked, cocking his head to the side in a way the kunoichi found rather cute. "I mean, that panda kid was kind of creepy and all, but you're nice. And really pretty."

"And how do you know that," Temari asked in surprise, fighting back a bit of a blush. She'd tried to bury her nicer side long ago, since a shinobi had no need of kindness.

"Case the kaze no seirei are gathering around you," Naruto said simply. "Some of it's cause you're a wind element user, but they wouldn't stick around if you weren't a nice person."

"Kaze no seirei," Temari asked in disbelief. "Right and next you'll tell me that you have mochi made by the Tsuki no Usagi. I have to get going. I'm sure we'll meet again in the exam..."

"I beg your pardon, Temari-san," the other girl said formally, "But may I ask your full name? I am Haku, a retainer of the Uzumaki clan and it is a part of my duties to take not of those who are important to Naruto-sama."

"Temari blinked in surprise, but shrugged and said, "My name is Sabaku no Temari and I really need to be going now." The Suna kunoichi walked off, wanting to leave these crazy Konoha-nins as far behind her as possible. A part of her did feel bad for the younger blonde, though, since crazy or not he was doomed as soon as Gaara had shown an interest in him.

* * *

Naruto bounced impatiently on the balls of his feet in front of the Academy. He'd arrived far earlier than he was supposed to, but the blonde had found himself full of nervous energy in anticipation of the Chuunin Exam. A couple of teams had already gone inside before Sakura showed up looking tired and drawn, like she hadn't slept much the previous night.

"Ne, Sakura," Naruto said, "are you all right? I mean, if you're not going to be okay then you shouldn't take the exam…"

"I'm fine, Naruto," Sakura sighed, glancing at the blonde. "I just had some very odd dreams last night that cost me some of my sleep, but I'll be good for the exam."

Further conversation was cut off by Sasuke's arrival as he was impatient to get on with the exam. They made their way up to the classroom, passing through the genjutsu trap some chuunin had set up with only moderate difficulty and a minor confrontation with another Konoha genin named Rock Lee. He was an odd one with a bowl cut, massive bushy eyebrows, a green spandex jumpsuit, an overenthusiastic attitude and a deep crush on Sakura.

Lee challenged Sasuke to a fight that went very badly for the Uchiha even after he activated his Sharingan. The spandex clad genin had easily defeated the genius, exhibiting a raw strength, speed and skill that the broody boy couldn't match or copy. Naruto had been a little shocked to learn that Lee was unable to use ninjutsu or genjutsu at all due to a malformation of his chakra coils. Team Seven made their escape when Lee's teacher, Maito Gai, arrived to prevent the odd genin from using a technique that he'd been forbidden to use against friends and fellow Konoha ninja. The jounin looked like an older version of the young man and it was distinctly creepy to watch the two spandex clad men cry and hug each other.

Kakashi was waiting for them at the entrance to the third floor classroom where the first part was scheduled to be held. "I'm glad all three of you decided to show up," the jounin said with a smile showing in his curved eye. "This exam has to be taken in teams of three, so if one of you had decided not to show then all of you would have been disqualified. Looks like I worried over nothing."

"You never told us about that," Sasuke grated out, his eyes flickering to Sakura. She had been the only one of the three worried about entering the exam, requiring a great deal of convincing and encouragement from both of her teammates to even get her to show up.

"That's because participation has to be completely voluntary," the jounin explained. "The Chuunin exam is for ninja who want to push themselves to be better, not for those willing to let themselves be pushed. Anyways, I'll take those forms and the lot of you can go in and mingle until the exam starts." Kakashi collected the informational forms the trio had filled out and disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving his team seething at the man.

"Damn, he's a prick," Naruto grumbled. "Too many secrets and we're supposed to trust him? I swear that one of these days I'm going to take that book of his and…"

"That's enough, dobe," Sasuke said with a glare as he pushed the door open and led the trio into the classroom. The stopped just inside, impressed by the sheer number of shinobi in the room. At least a hundred genin from a variety of hidden villages had to be three chatting while they waited for the examiners to arrive.

"Sasuke-kun," a loud voice called out as a purple and blonde bullet streaked past Naruto to latch onto the Uchiha's arm. Sakura grabbed the onto the other arm, as she and Ino began bickering over the boy much to his complete and utter annoyance.

"Meh, troublesome aren't they," Shikamaru drawled as he and Chouji walked up, having followed in the wake of Ino's glomp.

"Yo, Shikamaru, Chouji," Naruto said with a little wave. "I'm surprised to see the two of you here to be honest. I thought it would be more trouble than you'd figure it was worth."

"Ino bullied us into it," Chouji said cheerfully as he munched on his chips, ignoring the pained look his lazy friend sent his way.

"Dude, you guys are so whipped," Kiba laughed raucously as he appeared out of the crowd and threw an arm around Shikamaru and Chouji's shoulders in a gesture of male solidarity. Akamaru barked cheerfully from his perch inside the boy's jacket.

"So all three rookie teams are here this year," Naruto mused as he saw Hinata and Shino make their way through the crowd to join them. "Bet it gave the older teams fits that out teachers thought we were ready fro the exam right away."

"Probably," Shikamaru drawled after giving Kiba an annoyed glare. "Most teams are made to wait at least a year before entering to gain enough experience. Honestly, I don't think they expect us pass. This is probably just another troublesome lesson."

Naruto let his eyes roam the crowd, taking in the foreign ninja in the room and trying to identify what villages were present. Ame, Kusa, and Konoha were present in the largest numbers and there was a team from the new village Otogakure, keeping to themselves in the corner. Naruto only had eyes for the team from Suna, though, and as soon as he spotted them a grin broke out on the blonde's face.

"Oi, Temari-chan," the blonde called out loudly, waving at the kunoichi as she turned at the sound of her name. The redhead, Gaara, gave the blonde a glare so full of killing intent that most of the genin felt their knees shaking in fright. Naruto just pushed his way through the crowd to the surprised kunoichi.

"What are you doing," the kunoichi hissed at him as he approached.

"You said we'd see each other at the exam, Temari-chan," Naruto said brightly. The dark blonde girl stared at him, as if to ask if he was suicidal or just plain stupid, but the glare broke on Naruto's complete and utter enthusiasm.

"I guess I did at that," Temari admitted with a slight blush on her cheeks, aware that she was the object of scrutiny of most of the room.

"Well, I don't think I'll be able to chat for long, cause the examiners are on the way," he whispered conspiratorially as he suddenly bounced up on his toes and gave the kunoichi a peck on the cheek. "See you after the test, Temari-chan. You too, nekotama-san and panda-san."

The blonde bounced away from the Suna genin, leaving a broad variety of reactions in his wake. Temari had turned completely scarlet and had her mouth gaping like a fish out of water as she reached up to touch her cheek. Kankarou was fuming over being likened to the lucky cat stature, even if his hood did look like it had cat ears. Gaara didn't so much as twitch a muscle, but a circle of sand had formed around him on the ground and it roiled and seethed with frustrated rage.

"Damn, Naruto," Kiba said admiringly as the blonde rejoined his comrades. "You've got balls of pure steel, did you know that?"

"Well, I've always been pretty awesome," Naruto admitted with a foxy grin as he buffed his fingernails on his jacket.

"Meh, you just like to cause trouble," Shikamaru said, nodding towards the rest of the room who were all staring at the blonde's antics.

Naruto jumped on top of one of the desks and glared back at the crowd. "Ha! Don't think I'm going to lose to any of you bastards," the blonde yelled before hopping back to the floor. "Ah, that felt good."

"Are you mentally unbalanced, Uzumaki," Shino asked warily in his unemotional voice.

"I'm a ninja, Shino," the blonde replied with another smile. "How many of us could really be called sane?"

"Point taken," the Aburame said before resuming his silent observation of the room.

"You guys should really try to keep a lower profile," a voice said from behind Naruto. He turned to see a young man with silver hair, glasses, a Konoha hitai-ate and a friendly smile standing there.

"Who are you," Kiba asked.

"I'm Yakushi Kabuto," the young man replied, "and you really should keep it down. A lot of the genin here are nervous enough to do something stupid if you irritate them, like those Ame-nin over there."

"How do you know so much, Kabuto-san," Sakura asked, not once relinquishing her grip on Sasuke's arm but turning away from her glaring match with Ino to talk to the older genin.

"Because this is my seventh time taking the exam," Kabuto replied serenely as the nine Konoha genins' jaws dropped.

"So in other words…" Shikamaru started.

"You suck," Kiba summed up. "I've never heard of anyone taking the Chuunin Exam that many times before."

"I will admit that I have failed many times," Kabuto said with a smile that seemed oddly brittle to Naruto, "but I learned many valuable lessons. Like to gather detailed information on anyone that I might have to go up against. I keep this information on my nin-cards." The genin pulled out a deck of blank cards and drew one out. A little chakra channeled into the card caused it to reveal the information that had been hidden there. "I have information on all of the Konoha-nin and sketchier information on teams from other villages."

"Show me Rock Lee," Sasuke demanded. The others looked at him strangely, but Kabuto pulled out a card and channeled a spark of chakra into it. "Rock Lee," he said, slowly reading off the data. "Jounin-sensei is Maito Gai. Teammates are Hyuuga Neji and Tenten. No ability at ninjutsu or genjutsu, but rated at near jounin level in taijutsu."

"Hey, show me Gaara," Naruto called out.

"Sabaku no Gaara," Kabuto corrected as he picked out another card and channeled the chakra into it. "He'd from Sunagakure. Jounin-sensei is named Baki. Teammates are his older brother and sister Kankarou and Temari. No information on his abilities, but he apparently completed an A-Rank mission and came out without a scratch."

"What a monster," Kiba muttered in shock while Naruto frowned. _So panda-san and nekomata-san are her brothers_, he mused. _Damn, that means I'll have to be more careful when panda-san attacks me now!_ And Naruto knew it was only a matter of time before the redhead attacked him to follow through on the threat he'd implied three days before.

"Quit giving out other people's secrets, weakling," one of the Oto-nin growled as he swung a bandaged arm at Kabuto. Naruto blinked in surprise as he hadn't noticed the other shinobi's approach. The punch swung wide as Kabuto danced back, but the blonde could feel an odd…shiver in the air as the older ninja's glasses cracked and he hunched over, coughing up some blood.

Further action was forestalled as the front of the room exploded into smoke and the examiners appeared. The head examiner - a large, scarred fellow in a trench coat with a bandanna over his scalp - laid out the rules and got everything underway, but Naruto couldn't help feeling that something very wrong was going on.

* * *

The first exam was mostly a haze that Naruto was more than happy to put behind him. The test had been impossible and Naruto had been too unsure in his skills to try and cheat under such strict observation. The last question had created a significant tension in the room, but that had broken when Naruto had delivered his impassioned speech about achieving his goals even if he failed. He was just starting to relax when the window of the classroom exploded inwards and a large bundle of cloth landed in the center of the room. The corners suddenly shout out as kunai forced them diagonally into the ceiling, creating a banner which read, 'The Beautiful and Sexy Mitarashi Anko.' The woman herself stood proudly under the banner, hands on her hips as she surveyed the room and the entire group of genin gaped at her outfit. She wore a wraparound skirt and trenchoat over a fishnet body stocking and nothing other than some lower leg armor. Naruto shifted uncomfortably as he reacted to the sheer sex kitten aura she displayed which was starkly contrasted by the evil grin on her face.

"Twenty-six teams, Ibiki," she asked in a disbelieving tone. "You must be getting soft in your old age to let this many fish past you."

"What can I say, Anko," the heavily scarred man replied with a shrug. "We've got a hell of a catch this year."

"Feh, I'll have to cut them in half, at the least," Anko grumbled as she shook her head sadly. Naruto couldn't help but notice that it did rather delightful things to other parts of her anatomy. "Well, get your asses in gear and follow me."

"Where to," one of the genin in the back of the room asked.

"To the setting for the Second Exam," Anko said as an unpleasant and truly malicious smile spread across her face. "Training Ground 44, also known as the Forest of Death!" She broke off into a mad cackling and Naruto did his best to tune her out before she started seriously creeping him out.

The genin filed out of the classroom and followed the new examiner across the village until they reached a section of forest that was surrounded by a very high fence covered in signs warning that the area was off limits and that trespassers entered at their own risk. The examiner stood in front of the small crowd and gestured to one of her assistants, who began passing out a piece of paper to all the genin present.

"What's this," Kiba asked, glancing at the paper he now held.

"It's release form that absolves Konoha of any responsibility if you die from here on out," Anko said, her grin growing slightly more psychotic. "As of now the environment and competition can become lethal, so Hokage-sama requires these forms. If you don't sign them you might as well go home, since your shot at becoming a chuunin ends right here."

There was a furious murmur as the crowd broke up into individual teams and everyone quickly signed their consent forms. The chuunin assistants filtered among the groups, checking them off on a list as they collected the forms. When everyone had turned them in one of the chuunin nodded to Anko, whose smile grew even more bloodthirsty.

"Great," she said enthusiastically, "no pussies this year. Now the exam is pretty simple in nature. Each team will be issued either a Heaven or an Earth scroll and you have to obtain the other one and make it to the tower in the center of the forest within five days. You have to have both scrolls and have all your team alive and present to pass this round of the exam."

"Does that mean killing is allowed," one of the Kusa-nin who was giving off a really creepy vibe asked. Anko frowned at t him before replying.

"Once you're in the forest, the kid gloves are off," she answered. "There will be proctors patrolling the area to pick up the disabled or those who are otherwise unable to continue. They will also be verifying kills so that word of your death is sent back to your home village. Don't even think about attacking them or they'll put you down hard and fast and you'll be ejected from the exam. Now line up and one person from each team come and collect your scroll."

Sasuke left Naruto and Sakura behind to collect the scroll, while the blonde spotted Temari on the other side of the small crowd. He moved in that direction without a word to his pink-haired teammate and called out, "Oi, Temari-chan! Good luck on this exam."

"Are you an idiot," Kankarou asked dumfounded. "You're wishing someone who's going to be an opponent good luck?"

"Nah, I just know that I'm going to make it through just fine," Naruto replied with a grin, "and I wanted her to make it too. Oh, I guess that means you and panda-san over there will have to pass this part too. Well, don't be too much of a burden to Temari-chan and I'm sure that you'll make it through just fine." The blonde patted the puppeteer on the shoulder reassuringly and turned to walk away when he found that his foot wouldn't move.

Looking down, Naruto saw that it was covered in a layer of fine sand that was starting to creep up his leg. He heard a gasp of horror from Temari and flashed her a smile as he used a blast of wind centering on his body to send the sand scattering at a high speed. Gaara had a shocked expression on his normally dead face as Naruto wagged a finger at him and turned his back on the Suna-nin deliberately as he walked over to rejoin his team.


	13. Chapter 13

_This is not going well_, Naruto thought as he managed to right himself and land safely from the blast of wind that had flung him away from his teammates. It would have been child's play for him to cancel out the jutsu used against him, but the blonde admitted to himself that he had been caught flatfooted by the attack. A giant snake reared up behind the blonde, but he sliced it in half with a blade of air that he formed with an absentminded wave of his hand.

The wind jutsu had left a path, but it wasn't a straight one for some strange reason Naruto couldn't fathom. _It's almost like whoever did it wanted to keep me away for as long as possible, _he mused as he wrapped himself in his wind and launched into the air. Ever since he had renewed his family's contract, Naruto had been discovering new uses for his power even as he noticed their strength increase. He'd even noticed that he no longer required hand seals to do things with wind, almost as if he was using a different power source than chakra.

After about an hour, Naruto hovered to a stop and looked around. Somehow he'd wound up exactly where he'd landed when he'd set down from the jutsu. That's really weird, he thought. I should have made some progress, unless…crap, I'm caught in a genjutsu! The blonde gathered his chakra and formed the ram seal before releasing the energy with a shout of "Kai!" The air practically rippled as energy exploded outwards from Naruto, disrupting the fragile weave of chakra that the genjutsu created. Haku had spent some time trying to teach him how to identify and counter the various types of genjutsu that were in common use, but all subtle methods of dispelling were useless to him. Naruto had to use the brute force technique, causing massive disruption to any delicate chakra manipulation in the area.

Three shocked Ame-nin stood on tree branches near the blonde as his eyes narrowed. "I don't have time for this," he growled as the wind began spinning around him and blades of cutting air lashed out. Two of the Ame-nin managed to get away unharmed, but the blonde caught one of them with a glancing blow that sent him crashing to the ground. Naruto felt nothing but disgust at the two ninja for abandoning their comrade, but lowered himself to the ground near the downed shinobi.

"I want to know how you found me so quickly," Naruto snarled, causing the Ame-nin to blanch and stutter incomprehensibly.

"The Kusa-nin…he said that you would land here," the Ame-nin managed to choke out under the intense killing intent that the blonde was pumping out. "He said to delay you…if we couldn't beat you and take your scroll."

"So it was a conspiracy," Naruto said thoughtfully. "Why would they want just me held up? That would still leave Sakura…and Sasuke. Crap! Someone must have snuck in to go after the last Uchiha for his bloodline." The blonde looked down at his captive and wasn't surprised to see that the Ame-nin had passed out from a combination of fear and blood loss. He put a basic pressure bandage on the downed shinobi to keep him from dying before his teammates returned for him.

Naruto wrapped the wind around himself again and took to the air, trying to get oriented and failing. _Apparently I was going in the wrong direction once I hit that genjutsu and they must have led me further away_, he thought morosely. _Nothing for it except to keep searching. I should be able to find signs of them eventually_.

Naruto searched for hours, cursing silently as he felt several powerful flares of chakra lead him into dead ends as he found the remains of various fights. Night was falling when he caught sight of Rock Lee's jumpsuit dashing through the trees. Curious and lacking a better lead on his teammates the blonde swerved off to follow the oddball genin, feeling glad that he did when he saw Lee defending Sakura against the Oto-nin team. He held back as the green-clad genin fought against the leader of the team, a bandage-wrapped Oto-nin calling himself Dosu.

Naruto whistled in admiration as Lee's Omote Renge plowed the Oto-nin into the earth, but caught the blast of wind released by one of the other Oto-nin that caused the earth to erupt and form a cushion to lessen the impact. Dosu swung at Lee causing that same shiver in the air that Naruto had felt during his attack on Kabuto before the first exam. Lee staggered back like a drunk as Dosu began to brag about the power of his sound amplifier, while the kunoichi of the Oto-nin team grabbed Sakura and began ridiculing her for her obviously caring more for her appearance than for her skills. This was more than enough for the blonde, who sent a massive blast of wind into the small clearing causing lots of loose dirt to fly up into the air to obscure his arrival.

"What the hell did you do, Zaku," Dosu cursed as he coughed from the dust.

"It wasn't me," the other Oto-nin protested. "My Zankuuha doesn't work like this…"

"No, this was caused by me," Naruto stated loudly as he noticed the female Oto-nin lose her grip on Sakura as the pink-haired girl slipped a kunai through her hair. "And you really shouldn't be messing around with my teammates." He formed a dense ball of wind in his hand and tossed it with a negligent motion at the Oto kunoichi, who barely had time to let out a startled gasp before it impacted in her stomach and barreled her into a nearby tree. There was a loud thump from the collision and she slumped to the ground bonelessly and didn't move.

"Naruto where the hell have you been," Sakura half yelled, half sobbed.

"Hehe, sorry," the blonde apologized sheepishly, "but I got a little lost and stuck in a genjutsu trap for a while. Where's Sasuke?"

"It was terrible," Sakura cried, tears streaming down his face. "That weird Kusa-nin who called himself Orochimaru did something to him and now he won't wake up!"

"So that's why they tried to keep me away," Naruto mused, missing the growing irritation of the two remaining Oto-nin.

"You won't stop us from killing the Uchiha, bastard," the one called Zaku yelled. Naruto could feel a sudden change in air pressure from him as he raised one of his arms to point palm first at the blonde. "Zankuuha!"

The torrent of wind bore down on Naruto as Sakura shrieked out a warning. The blonde gesture casually and the blast split around him like it had hit a wedge in the air. Before Naruto could chastise the Oto-nin properly, an evil and malicious chakra laden with heavy killing intent filled the clearing. He turned to see Sasuke standing next to a hollow tree with glowing purple marks covering half his face and neck and trailing down his left arm.

"Who did this to you, Sakura," the Uchiha asked in an echoing dead tone. He was obviously upset over the damage the girl had taken before Naruto had intervened.

"That was us, you gay little pretty boy," Zaku yelled out, trying to hide his fear under false bravado.

"You will pay for that," Sasuke promised as he walked towards the Oto-nin, the glowing marks pulsing in time with his steps. The other shinobi sneered at the Uchiha and let out another blast of wind, which missed as Sasuke moved behind him at a very high speed. He grabbed Zaku's arms and twisted them back painfully saying, "You're very proud of these arms, aren't you? Let's change that."

The Uchiha twisted the trapped Oto-nin's arms even further, causing Zaku to cry out in agony as there was an audible snap and crack from his now abused arms. Sakura cringed at eh noise and threw herself at Sasuke, wrapping her arms around him to try and stop him as she cried out, "Please, Sasuke-kun, stop! There's no need to do something like this!" The broody genin froze, letting the Oto-nin collapse to the ground and shivered as if he were fighting an internal battle. The strange glowing marks flickered and died out as the receded back towards his neck, showing Naruto that something very wrong was going on.

"Look," Dosu said nervously, glancing at his crippled teammate and the unconscious one and coming to a decision. "We'll give you our scroll if you'll let me just take my teammates and go." At Naruto's nod, the heavily bandaged genin pulled the scroll out of his backpack and set it on the ground before walking over to his fallen teammate and picking her up. Slinging her over his shoulder, he turned to Zaku and said, "Let's get out of here." The Oto-nin scowled, but complied.

Once the other team was gone, Naruto let out a sigh of relief and said loudly, "All right, you guys can come out now." Sakura and Sasuke gave him a startled look, but said nothing when Team Ten walked out of the bushes looking rather sheepish. "And you guys too," Naruto added, looking up into the trees. Everyone looked surprised when a Hyuuga and a cute girl with her hair in buns dropped to the ground.

"How long have you known we were there," the Hyuuga asked crossly, glaring at the blonde.

"Since the moment you showed up," the whiskered genin replied with a smirk. "I was just curious as to why you're here."

"We're just here to pick up our idiot of a teammate," the girl said with an exasperated look at the spandex-clad genin who was finally getting back to his feet. "Honestly, Lee, I can't believe that you got involved in someone else's fight when we haven't even gotten our scroll yet." She slipped his arm over her shoulder and helped him stand completely upright.

"We should go," the Hyuuga said shortly, leaping back up into the trees. The girl gave everyone an apologetic smile before she and Lee jumped off into the foliage after their teammate.

"Damn, Sasuke, he's got as big a stick up his ass as you do," Naruto commented as he turned his attention to Team Ten, where Ino looked fit to be tied at his insulting of Sasuke. "And I hope that you guys were planning on helping if things went bad, otherwise I'd have to kick your ass, Shikamaru."

"Meh, you get more troublesome every time I see you, Naruto," the lazy genin replied, "but yeah, we were going to step in and help until you showed up. Since you guys had things under control, I figured there was no reason to tip our hands." Meanwhile, Ino had moved over and after a horrified exclamation over Sakura's hair was now trimming the other kunoichi's hair into something more presentable. "How'd you know we were there anyway?"

"That would be telling," Naruto replied with a smile that turned into a frown. "You'd better watch out for the mummy guy. That thing on his arm does something with sound waves; that's what screwed up geji-mayu's balance so badly. It probably ruptured his eardrums."

"Thanks," Shikamaru said with an odd look at the blonde. "Why are you warning us? They're not likely to make it to the next round with how screwed up they were when they left."

"Don't count them out," Naruto warned, eyeing his teammates with a calculating glance. "After all, no one's going to come out of this round unscathed. Hey, bastard, you going to puke all over the ground or are you going to help me and Sakura get the scroll we need?" A string of profanity from the Uchiha was answer enough for the blonde, who chuckled as the grouped together and the two teams went their own separate ways.

* * *

Naruto felt frustrates as the trio moved through the forest towards the tower, since neither Sasuke or Sakura would tell him what had happened during his absence. The pink-haired kunoichi kept shooting worried looks at the Uchiha, who seemed to have trouble channeling chakra without some kind of painful reaction. _At least they listened to my suggestion to move close to the tower to hunt for the scroll we need_, the blonde thought. He'd reasoned that there would be some of the more experienced and sadistic genin collecting scrolls and eliminating the competition near the tower. It might be a tougher fight, but there'd be a better chance that whoever they fought would have the scroll they needed. Sakura had wanted to set up a camp and rest for a day or so, but both of the boys had voted her down since they could rest after they got to the tower.

A large insect caught the blonde's eye and he impaled it with a kunai in a fit of pique. While it wasn't the insect's fault that Naruto was frustrated, it did make him feel a little better. It raised an alarm bell several minutes later when he spotted the impaled insect on a tree up ahead. Naruto came to a halt on a tree branch, looking around carefully as Sasuke and Sakura stopped nearby.

"What's wrong, dobe," the Uchiha growled. "We still have a lot of ground to cover."

"We're caught in a genjutsu," Naruto answered shortly as he cast out with his wind, feeling the fragile threads of the illusion and trying to locate the ninja who must have created it. A smile grew on his lips as he found all three of them clustered on a single tree branch, watching his team run in circles. "Think you can handle a Housenka no jutsu, bastard?"

"Of course," the Uchiha scowled, "but not without knowing where they are."

"I'm going to break the genjutsu," Naruto said quietly. "They're forty-five degrees to your left. Start the jutsu facing away from them and try to catch them by surprise. Sakura, loose a volley of kunai after the Housenka no jutsu in a spread pattern above the fire ball. Use any explosive tags you've got left. Everyone got it?" Sakura nodded and slipped her hand into her weapon pouch, no doubt attaching the tags to the kunai by touch alone. Sasuke glowered at him, but began making the hand seals for his katon jutsu while Naruto flexed the wind he had stretched out, snapping the genjutsu like a spider web.

"Katon: Housenka no jutsu!" Sasuke spun around as he completed the last seal, spitting a giant fireball that grew even larger as Naruto fed air into it. Sakura unleashed a double volley of kunai trailing explosive tags, actually targeting above and below the katon jutsu. Naruto felt stupid for not thinking of that angle and was glad Sakura had managed to pick up on it on her own.

A loud explosion rocked the area of the forest as the katon jutsu and exploding tags reached their destination. Three bodies dropped to the ground, but in a fit of caution Naruto waited until the smoke cleared and reached out with his wind again. Once he was satisfied that they'd gotten them, the blonde nodded to his teammates. Sakura leapt down and rifled through the bodies for a moment before coming up with a slightly singed scroll.

"Looks like that's the one we need," Naruto crowed. "Let's get the hell out of here before someone else comes to see what caused the explosion." The other two nodded and Team Seven moved off at their best current pace towards the tower, hoping to sleep in a bed that night.

The path to the Tower was clear, leaving Naruto to guess that the ninja they'd defeated had managed to claim a rather large section for their hunting ground. A guard at the door to the Tower told them to pick any of the empty rooms on the first floor and take their scrolls there. Empty was the right way to describe the room Team Seven found themselves in, except for a wall hanging with a riddle on it that had Naruto completely stumped.

"Maybe we should open the scrolls," Sakura suggested after analyzing the riddle on the wall. "I know that they told us not to open them, but the kanji for Heaven and Earth fill in the blanks on the riddle." Naruto shrugged and looked over at Sasuke, who nodded his acquiescence. Sakura took the scrolls out of her pouch, broke the seals and began to unroll them when they started to smoke. All three genin jumped back, reaching for their weapons as the cloud dissipated to reveal a familiar figure.

"Iruka-sensei, is that you," Naruto asked dumbfounded.

"So those were summoning scrolls," Sasuke murmured at the same time.

"Congratulations, you three, on completing the Second Exam successfully," the scarred chuunin said cheerfully. "This test was to mark your ability to carry sensitive information, keep it safe from enemies and to not give in to the temptation to take a peek. Chuunin are often assigned much more difficult missions and will act as leaders for genin squads on lower ranked missions. There's a whole speech that I'm supposed to give, but I have a feeling that Naruto would just fall asleep like he did back in the Academy."

"Hey, I wasn't that bad," Naruto protested.

"Yes, you were," Sakura, Sasuke and Iruka said in unison before breaking out in a laugh at the pouting expression on the blonde's face.

"You have two more days before the Second Exam is officially over," Iruka continued with a smile. "Take the time to rest up and eat in the cafeteria. There are rooms marked with village and team numbers for every potential team to make it this far, so take it easy and you'll gather in two days time in the big arena on the top floor."

"Ne, Iruka-sensei," Naruto asked, "have any other teams shown up yet?"

"Teams Eight and Ten from Konoha have made it in," the chuunin replied, "and the team from Suna as well. Team Eight almost set a new speed record for the exam."

"Cool, that means Temai-chan is here," Naruto said excitedly. "Now the only question is how to get her away from her brothers…"

* * *

"I swear that if you don't stop giggling at your porn, Kankarou, that I'm going to burn every piece of it and your puppets for good measure," Temari growled as she glared at her brother.

"Honestly, you need to lighten up, Temari," Kankarou replied without looking up from his book. "Gaara's locked himself up in his part of the room and said not to disturb him until the Second Exam is over. Why don't you go and find someone to take your frustrations out on other than me? I want to enjoy my brief moment of piece from Gaara's mood swings. I swear that boy's worse than you are when you're on the rag…"

Kankarou's comment was cut short as Temari brought her war fan down on top of his head with a loud clang from the metal edges. As her brother slumped into unconsciousness, the kunoichi stalked out of the room in a huff. _Who does he think he is to make a comment like that_, she seethed. _Just because he's my brother doesn't mean that I have to put up with him making PMS jokes_…

Several minutes later found Temari lounging on a balcony overlooking the Forest of Death. A part of her was in awe of seeing green everywhere she looked, but overlaying that was a certain amount of scorn for those who'd lived such an easy life here without having to learn how to survive the harsh realities of the desert. Still, the sunset over the forest made the leaves glow with brilliant colors, despite the huge creatures that lived there and the desperate battles no doubt still taking place.

"Over here, you say," she heard a familiar voice sat as the sound of footsteps from inside the tower became audible. Temari all but groaned when a blonde head over an orange jumpsuit became visible. _This guy certainly is persistent_, she thought, _but who was he talking to?_

"Oi, Temari-chan," the boy, Naruto if she recalled correctly, called out as he joined her on the balcony. "Boy, you sure are hard to find!"

"Maybe that's because I wanted some time alone," Temari replied sarcastically.

"Nah," the other blonde said dismissively, which rankled a little. Who did he think he was to pretend he knew her so well? "You're not one of those broody types. You just like a little peace and quiet once in a while, but on the whole you're much happier when you're around people."

Temari just stared at the younger boy, slack-jawed. No one had ever been able to get such an accurate read on her since she was a little girl. "How the hell would you know that," she demanded angrily, feeling oddly vulnerable for some reason.

"I'm pretty good at reading people," Naruto replied with a smirk as he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're a lot like me, Temari-chan, but what I can't figure out is why you have to hide it…."

"A psychotic brother who routinely threatens to kill me," Temari offered bitterly, "or perhaps the fact that our father is the Kazekage and a pretty worthless excuse for a human being…" The dark blonde slapped her hand over her mouth as she suddenly realized what she was saying.

"Hmm, I thought so," Naruto said as he closed his eyes and nodded sagely. "You've never had anyone treat you like a real person before, have you? Everyone tiptoes around you out of fear of your family, leaving you all alone when you just want to be accepted for who you are."

"How…" Temari stuttered. _How can he know this? There's no way anyone could know how I feel anymore. Not since I learned to control my emotions and facial reactions. It's not like he could have read a spy report on me either, since he's only a genin_…

"I told you, Temari-chan," Naruto tsked, "that we're more alike than you'd ever believe, but that's not the only reason I know that. I had a little help you see…"

"I knew it," Temari smirked. "So you have someone stalking me? Did you break into the Hokage's office and read his files? Did you bribe Kankarou with porn for information on me?"

"Porn?" Naruto blinked in surprise before continuing, "No, it was nothing like that. I told you before, but you just thought I was crazy when I said that the kaze no seirei like you."

"That's because there's no such thing," Temari snapped. "All that mystical mumbo-jumbo is bunk and you're a fool for believing it!"

"That's mean, Temari-chan," Naruto whined, "especially since I came up with a way for you to see them." The blonde pulled a kunai out of his weapon pouch and cut a deep slash across his palm. Blood welled up think and red as he held out the hand to the kunoichi. "Just rub this under you eyes. It'll only work for a little while, I think, but they told me the blood of the Contractor has a lot of special properties."

Temari gave the boy a steady look, but her curiosity won out over her caution and she daubed a finger in the blood pooled in his hand. The kunoichi spread the blood sparingly under her eyes, letting out a hiss as her eyes began to sting a little. Her vision blurred slightly, but when it cleared she could see motes of blue light flitting about all over the place. Her mouth dropped open in disbelief and her hands came together to form a seal as she said, "Kai," in an attempt to dispel whatever genjutsu that she was caught in.

"It's all real, Temari-chan," Naruto reassured the wide-eyed girl as he gestured at the swirling blue lights around the both of them. "There's a lot of them here right now because they like hanging around me, but there's always some around anyone who uses futon jutsu. That's part of what drew me to you, Temari-chan, since you have more kaze no seirei around you than the other futon specialists I've met and they seem really happy. You must really love the futon that you use for them to have that kind of reaction."

Temari knew that she must resemble a fish with the way her mouth was opening and closing. The dancing lights were beautiful, but they were also completely unrestrained and joyous. She could the big grin on Naruto's face and couldn't help but flush as she realized that she owed him an apology for questioning his sanity. Even though he was a dead man walking. Gaara would turn that cheerful grin into a frozen rictus of pain and terror and there was nothing the kunoichi could do about it.

"Well, I'll leave you to enjoy the sight," Naruto said with a cheesy grin. "I'll see you in two days at the end of the Second Exam. Oh, and don't worry too much about panda-san. If he tries to come after me again, I'll spank him and send him home crying." With that the blonde turned and left, making Temari really wonder what was going on behind those brilliant blue eyes.

* * *

Naruto practically bounced in place as he stood in a line with the other genin who'd finished the Second Exam successfully. In the end, seven teams had made it through the Forest of Death and retrieved both scrolls. Five of them were teams from Konoha, the Suna team was here, and surprisingly the Oto team stood in front of the Hokage as he rose from his chair to address the gathered genin.

"Congratulations to all of you who made it this far," the Sandaime said in a dignified tone. "There's one more task ahead of you before the Third Exam…"

"Pardon me, Hokage-sama," a sickly looking ninja interrupted," but you since I'm the referee, then I should explain the situation." The Sandaime nodded and sat back down. "My name is Gekkou Hayate and before we move on to the Third Exam, which will be a series of one on one matches, we need to have a series of preliminary matches."

"What," one of the other genin exclaimed. "Why do we have to do preliminary matches? We all passed the Second Exam, didn't we?"

"Too many people passed the Second Exam," the man replied. "Many highly placed and powerful men will be attending the Third Exam and we cannot afford to have it run too long, since these men will be deciding which villages to send their contracts to. So we'll have a round of preliminary matches to cut the numbers in half. Now before we begin, does anyone want to withdraw?"

"I do," Kabuto said with an apologetic smile. "I'm afraid the I don't have enough chakra to continue."

"Very well," the sickly ninja replied and nodded to one of his assistants as the silver haired genin left the room. A board lit up on the wall behind the referee. "The board behind me will randomly select the opponents for all ten matches so that there will be no accusations of favoritism." The genin vacated the floor to join their jounin-sensei on the balcony along the outside of the area designated as the arena. Naruto noticed that Sasuke was holding his neck and wincing in pain every so often while Sakura shot him worried looks.

_Is there something still wrong with the bastard_, Naruto wondered as he remembered the incident in the forest and the strange marks that had spread across his skin with the feel of an incredibly evil and vile chakra. _Come to think of it, neither he nor Sakura ever told me what happened during the time we were separated_.

"First match," the referee called out after a cough. The board's lights swirled and revealed two names. "Akado Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke." The broody genin grunted and made his way down to the floor while Naruto sidled over to talk to Kakashi.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto started, "there's something weird going on with Sasuke. Back in the forest, he had these weird glowing purple marks growing across his skin…"

"Don't worry about it," the jounin replied, his attention focused on the match below as the Uchiha desperately tried to avoid the chakra draining jutsu that Yoroi was using. "Hayate-san knows to stop the match if anything gets out of control, but we arranged for Sasuke to have the first match in order to take care of any problems as soon as possible."

"So much for random matches," the blonde snorted as he looked down to see Sasuke pound the other genin into the ground with a taijutsu combo that looked suspiciously familiar. "That bastard," Naruto groaned as he realized what had happened. "I can't believe that he had the gall to copy Lee's taijutsu."

"that's what Uchiha do," Kakashi said blandly. "They take whatever they can use their Sharingan to copy from their strong opponents and incorporate it into their fighting style. That's why their clan was viewed as so powerful."

"And that's how you made your name too; isn't it, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto asked pointedly. "You have a Sharingan eye too, so that's where a lot of your jutsu came from, right?"

"Yes," the jounin answered with a sigh, "but I don't copy from other Konoha shinobi, only from enemies. Unless the Konoha-nin gives me permission, that it is. Looks like I'll have to talk to Sasuke about the ethics of using his Sharingan on comrades. Gai looks fit to be tied." The one eyed shinobi nodded over at a man who looked like an older version of Rock Lee. Naruto shuddered at the sight and had to forcibly tear his eyes away from the giant caterpillar-like eyebrows.

Most of the matches were pretty tame, in Naruto's opinion. Shino using his bugs to make that Zaku guy's arms explode was both gross and cool, while Shikamaru easily manipulated Kin, the third Oto-nin, into a position where he knocked her out without a great deal of effort. Chouji put up a valiant fight against the last Oto-nin, Dosu, but he was too slow and the mummy-like genin showed that his sound waves could travel though the fat and affect the Akimichi despite the earplugs he wore.

Sakura and Ino's fight scared Naruto a little, more because of it's sheer psychological viciousness than for any skills displayed. _Girls fighting are scary_, the blonde thought with a shudder as Hayate declared a double knockout after Sakura managed to break the hold Ino's possession jutsu had on her. Kankarou fought against a Konoha-nin that Naruto didn't recognize named Tsurugi Misumi, who had an ability to unlock all of his joints and control his limbs with chakra like they were made of rubber. He entangled the Suna-nin, sure of victory, until the real Kankarou burst out of a bundle of bandages that had been set on the floor at the beginning of the match. He revealed that Misumi was fighting a war puppet and proceeded to severely injure the flabbergasted shinobi with weapons hidden in the puppet before Hayate called the match.

When Temari's name came up, Naruto couldn't repress a cheer, despite the odd looks he was receiving from the others observing the matches. It didn't matter to the blonde, who was looking forward to finally seeing what the girl he liked was capable of doing.

"You really should just give up now," Temari told the other girl, Tenten. She was one of the pair that had picked up Lee after the fight with the Oto-nin in the forest. "You're a weapons specialist, right? That shows that you don't stand a chance now, so you might as well save yourself the embarrassment."

"Come on, like I'd give up that easily," Tenten shot back angrily as he pulled out a handful of kunai.

"Fine," Temari sighed as she pulled out her battle fan ad opened it slightly to show some of the pattern painted on the weapon. "One moon should be enough to defeat you."

"Come on, Temari-chan," Naruto yelled. "Kick her ass!"

"Naruto-kun, you should not cheer on a foreign shinobi like that," Lee scolded as he walked up beside the blonde.

"But Temari-chan only has her asshole brothers here and they're not rooting for her," Naruto complained, "and Tenten has you and your sensei to cheer her on…"

"Yosh," Lee said, a strange fire lighting in his eyes. "You are a good man, Naruto-kun, to have realized that the desert flower has no one to fan the flames of her youthfulness while Tenten has both me and Gai-sensei!"

"Umm, right," Naruto replied hesitantly before turning back to cheer for Temari while the spandex-clad genin cheered for his teammate. Both of the girls below looked more than slightly embarrassed but didn't delay when the referee told them to begin.

Tenten released several barrages of kunai at the Suna kunoichi, who deflected them with a wave of her fan and calling out, "Kamaitachi!" This repeated itself for several minutes until the bun-haired girl pulled a pair of scrolls from her belt and smeared blood on them. She leapt into the air and unfurled them to release a veritable hail of projectiles at the Suna-nin, who deflected them with another wave of her fan.

"Is that all you've got," Temari asked condescendingly. "This is why I said that you weren't a match for me, odango-atama." Tenten just smiled eerily and brought her hands up in a sharp motion and twisted them in a complicated pattern. All the weapons across the arena lifted from the ground and flew at the Suna-nin, propelled by the very fine and nearly invisible wire attached to all of them.

"So, you do have some tricks up your sleeves," Temari smirked as she opened her fan further to reveal a second painted moon. "Daikamaitachi!" Gale force winds leapt from her fan and blew the weapons away, sending Tenten smashing into the wall where she slid down to floor slowly. Temari held her fan up for a moment, considering another attack until she looked up at Naruto, then snapped it shut as Hayate declared her the victor.

The next fight, after they cleared away all of the weapons, was between Hyuuga Neji and Hyuuga Hinata. As the two genin faced off, Naruto could feel a terrible cold lump growing in his gut. _This isn't going to end well_, the blonde thought as he watched the two Hyuuga exchange blows. He winced at every strike that got through Hinata's guard, remembering the few times he'd run afoul of a Hyuuga as a child. Their chakra infused strikes did significantly more damage than was let on by the fluid, almost dance-like nature of their taijutsu style. Even if he didn't know Hinata very well due to her terminal shyness, Naruto didn't want anything bad to happen to her. He cheered her on, to not give in to the bullying of the boy she acknowledged as a cousin. The blonde was worried, though, by the lack of emotion on the older Hyuuga's face.

When the final blow was struck and sent Hinata to the ground for the final time, convulsing and spitting up blood, Naruto began to move. Neji had approached for a finishing strike, but found himself restrained by all of the Konoha jounin-sensei and the referee.

"Naruto," Hayate said as he helped to hold the Hyuuga back while ranting about the favorable treatment being given the Main House, "go back upstairs. If you get involved, I'll have to disqualify you." The blonde glanced over at Hinata, who was being loaded onto a stretcher by a couple of medical ninja, before bending down and coating his hand in the girl's blood.

"Neji," Naruto growled, "I don't know what your problem is, but Hinata didn't deserve what you did to her. I promise you that I'll beat an apology out of you, even if I have to break all of your bones in the process." He ran the blood smeared fingers across his face as a promise while the Hyuuga just sneered at the blonde.

The next match was Inuzuka Kiba versus Rock Lee and it was probably one of the greatest taijutsu battles that Naruto had ever seen. Lee was definitely faster and stronger than Kiba, but the Inuzuka's use of the Jyuujin no bunshin no jutsu let Akamaru be an effective third combatant. When Kiba started using the Tsuuga, the famed whirling fang technique of his clan, Lee was given permission by Gai to remove his weights. The battle took on a whole other stage then, as the three of them moved faster than the eye could easily follow.

Lee sensed that he had leveled the playing field, rather than tipping it in his favor, and began to do something that astonished everyone who knew about the genin's inability to mold chakra. He began releasing the Heavenly Gates. Two of them were more than enough to secure a win over Kiba, which the Inuzuka took with his usual poor grace. Kakashi had moved over to stand by Gai during the fight and looked disturbed as the other jounin confirmed that he'd taught Lee how to do that.

"Lee has enough of a handicap," Gai stated, "by being unable to mold chakra due to hi underdeveloped chakra coils. This gives him a trump card where pure skill could not take him. Besides, it was necessary in order for him to learn Omote Renge."

"So you taught him those dangerous maneuvers as well," the one-eyed jounin asked flatly.

"What I teach my students is not your concern, my eternal rival," Gai replied in an equally flat tone.

"Ahem," Hayate coughed down on the arena floor. "We will now have our tenth and final match. Uzumaki Naruto versus Sabaku no Gaara."


	14. Chapter 14

Naruto made his way down the stairs with a confident step, but he'd been feeling a gnawing worry in his gut about the Suna-nin he'd been referring to as panda-san. Gaara had a really creepy vibe about him that the blonde had pinned down to the fact that the other boy never seemed to blink. Ever. If that wasn't enough, the redhead had a disturbing tendency to stare at Naruto in a way the blonde imagined that he would look at a bowl of ramen after a month's fast. Creepy to say the least.

Gaara had appeared on the floor of the arena in a swirl of sand, but Naruto was much more patient. He was in no rush to go into battle because every extra second allowed more of the kaze no seirei to gather in the room. He'd called out to the moment he'd seen his name come up and he was sure that this was going to be one hell of a fight. _What the hell, though, this is the last preliminary round,_ Naruto thought as he continued his slow walk. _Let's give everyone a show!_

* * *

Temari wondered if this is what it felt like to have a heart attack. When she'd defeated her opponent, the dark blonde had been tempted to give a parting shot for good measure but she had hesitated. She had looked up at Naruto's smiling face and thought about how he'd cheered for her, unlike either of her brothers, and put her fan away. She wasn't sure what she thought of the nearly hyperactive Konoha-nin, but he'd certainly made a good impression on her.

Maybe that's why she'd felt such a profound tightness when he was paired up with Gaara. Her little brother, the jinchuuriki of Shukaku the Ichibi, the monster of Suna; all of those had been used to describe him at one point or another and now he was going to destroy the first bright light to shine in her life for a long time. A small part of her wondered if the blonde might actually beat Gaara, but the rational and practical side of her stated that no one had ever so much as injured Gaara for as long as she could remember.

The odd thing was that she could still see those little blue lights that Naruto had called the kaze no seirei flooding into the room. Apparently the sight given to her by the application of his blood under her eyes hadn't worn off because the lights were growing so thick that the whole room seemed to take on an ethereal blue glow. _Why is he gathering them together_, Temari wondered silently.

"Heh, looks like the brat's time is up," Kankarou said with just a hint of malice. The puppeteer hadn't forgiven the blonde for calling him on a resemblance to a nekomata. "Going to get squished like a grape. The only question is whether Gaara's going to make it slow or not."

Sadly, Temari could only nod in agreement as the blonde stepped out into the arena to face Gaara. She was surprised when he turned to the Hokage and said, "Oi, jiji, you'd better be careful. Our fight's going to cause a lot of collateral damage any way you look at it." The Sandaime laughed and the kunoichi felt shocked that a mere genin was allowed to speak so disrespectfully to his village's leader. If someone had spoken to the Kazekage that way, he would be lucky if seeing the inside of a prison cell was the worst thing that happened to him.

When the referee signaled to begin Gaara wasted no time in sending a stream of sand at the blonde, but it seemed to shatter against some kind of invisible shield around the blonde. Temari's eyes widened as she realized that a cluster of the blue lights had moved to block the sand and were now moving around Naruto in a protective spiral that had an angry sort of energy to it.

"Holy shit," Kankarou swore in disbelief. "I thought that time before the second exam was just a fluke, but what just happened shouldn't be possible!"

"Looks like blondie there might just have a chance," Temari said as a frustrated Gaara sent wave after wave of sand at the other genin, only to have each one shredded before it came close. Seeing that this tactic wasn't working, the Suna-nin gathered his sand from all over the arena and wrapped it around the blonde in an ever compressing shell. It shrank until it came near Naruto where Gaara suddenly began to have problems getting his sand to tighten any further. Suddenly, the clump of sand exploded outwards in a gale of wind and sand that reminded Temari of the truly destructive sandstorms that regularly swept across Kaze no Kuni.

"Is that the best you've got, panda-san," Naruto asked in a sad voice. "I was hoping for something more out of someone with a reputation like yours. I haven't even had to attack yet."

"I will kill you," Gaara growled dangerously in a tone that sent shivers down Temari's spine. "Mother wants your blood more than anyone I have ever met, and killing one as strong as you will truly validate my existence."

"That's pretty pathetic, panda-san," the blonde replied with a shake of his head. "You have to kill someone in order to prove that you have the right to live? That's bullshit that will never lead to real strength. Hate, anger, all those negative emotions will only take you so far, but there is another way to become truly strong. It's actually pretty simple. You just have to find something or someone that's truly precious to you and protect it. That where my strength comes from; my will to protect the ever-growing list of people who have become precious to me!"

Temari couldn't help but blush as she wondered if she was on the blonde's list of precious people, but she paled when she felt the spike of evil chakra that mean Gaara was pulling heavily on Shukaku for power. _Naruto_, the kunoichi prayed, _I hope you manage to get through this in one piece_!

* * *

Naruto would never admit it, but he was a little nervous about the fight. The chance of someone uninvolved getting hurt by the spillover from the clash between their two elements. So far, the kaze no seirei had managed to protect him without scattering the sand into the watching ninja, but it was only a matter of time before someone got hurt.

"Maybe we should see how good your defense is, panda-san," Naruto said cheerfully as he sent a weak thrust of wind at the redhead only to see it stopped by a barrier of sand that formed to block the blow. _Interesting_, the blonde mused as he started sending light attacks at the redhead from various directions, watching as the sand shifted to block each one. _Looks like the sand is automatically blocking the attacks, but every time it does he cannot attack_. As the blonde continued with some slightly stronger bursts of wind, the sand suddenly wrapped itself around Gaara, forming a complete shell around the Suna-nin.

"Well, that's just not fair," Naruto pouted as he glared at the unresponsive bubble of sand. He knew that most of the shinobi watching the fight must be confused since his attacks were invisible, being made of wind after all, and since he didn't use hand seals or even hand gestures to direct his attacks. As a matter of fact, the blonde's hands had been securely in his pockets throughout the whole fight so far. "I guess it's time to up the ante."

Naruto pulled his right hand out of his pocket and formed a lance of air, causing the wind to spiral around it as he threw it explosively forward. The javelin lanced forward and pierced into the shell of sand, creating a visible hole in the defensive construct. A thin dribble of blood trickled from the hole and a horrified scream seemed to come from within as the sphere contracted in on itself and became significantly denser than before. A pulse of chakra washed out from the Suna-nin, a vicious evil chakra that made the hairs on the back of the blonde's neck curl.

_This chakra…it's definitely not normal_, Naruto thought furiously as the now smaller sphere of sand seemed to pulse with chakra. _Why does it feel strangely familiar? Like there's something about it that I should recognize?_ The chakra ceased pulsing as the sphere unfolded into a monstrous version of Gaara with a long arm and tail made from chakra and sand. More sand covered the rest of his body, enlarging it like an insect's exoskeleton. Only his face was completely uncovered with his eyes turned a dark yellow, his features twisting into a snarl of rage.

"Mother demands your blood," Gaara shouted, swinging his sand arm at the blonde and tearing through the layer of kaze no seirei that had been actively shielding him. The blow propelled Naruto straight back into the wall of the arena with enough force to shatter stone and create a Naruto-shaped hole. The impact knocked the breath out of the blonde and sent pain shooting through his back and his head, but he struggled to maintain consciousness. Pulling the wind to him, Naruto sent it exploding outwards to shred the sand that was seeking to hold him against the wall and crush him against the stone.

"Tit for tat, eh," Naruto gasped as he tried to steady himself on his feet and used one hand to wipe away the bit of blood that was trickling from his mouth. His back and ribs ached abominably, but the throbbing pain was already beginning to subside as his chakra was channeled out into his body to repair the wounds. _Heh, if I was using the fuzzball's chakra, that probably wouldn't have hurt at all, _Naruto thought before freezing in realization. _That's it! That's what that nasty chakra is. Gaara's a jinchuuriki too!_ The new revelation made Naruto feel a pang of sympathy for the redhead, wondering how bad his life must have been to turn him into this killing obsessed monster.

The arm of san reached for the blonde again, but Naruto sent a spiraling blast of wind at it and was gratified to see it get blown apart. Unfortunately the sand flowed back towards Gaara and the arm began to reform faster than the blonde was comfortable with. _Looks like I'll need to go even further_, the boy thought sadly as he looked at his opponent. He'd been very careful with his wind abilities since he'd made the Contract, as they'd been amplified considerably. _Guess now's as good a time as ant to stretch my wings_.

Wind began to really move down in the arena. Gaara was unable to move his sand more than a few feet away from his body before the wind sheared it off and carried it away. Naruto was dimly aware of the genin, jounin and other spectators having to hold on for their dear lives in order to not be blown away. The immediate area around him was still and calm, though, much like it was in his Fuuton: Arashi no Me no jutsu. Of course, he'd realized that his futon jutsu had really just been him using his wind abilities and rationalizing it away as chakra.

"So you've got a demon sealed inside of you," Naruto said sympathetically, using the wind to funnel his voice to Gaara. "And its obviously influenced you greatly if you're this bloodthirsty, although that could be the end result of the way they treated you. The cold eyes, those hateful whispers, even the assassination attempts are all familiar to me too. You see, Gaara, you're not the only one who has a demon sealed inside of them,"

The look of utter shock on Gaara's face was priceless as Naruto lifted his shirt a little to show the other boy the seal on his stomach. The blonde was just glad that the wind and sand were preventing the other genin from seeing something that Naruto might get in trouble for revealing. The sand receded from around the redhead's face as he began to talk.

"They did it to me while I was still in my mother's womb and used her soul for the sacrifice," Gaara said softly. Naruto was forced to use the wind to carry the other jinchuuriki's words to him over the noise of the indoor storm. "My uncle raised me, told me for years that he cared for me. It was all a lie. One day, he tried to kill me but my sand protected me and as he lay dying, he revealed that he blamed me for my mother's death. After this came more assassins, the townsfolk feared me and kept the others away. That's when I realized that my purpose was to kill, just like mother had always told me."

Gaara's eyes took on an almost maniacal gleam as he continued, "That's why I kill. Because mother wants to taste the blood of our enemies." The redhead gathered his sand and compressed it into a spear that he launched at Naruto. The blonde didn't even move, although his eyes did begin to glow bluer than the norm as the winds roared and tore the spear down into its component sand.

"You gave up," Naruto said sharply. The redhead flinched at the anger in his voice. "I know what it's like, all of it. I didn't have an uncle who even pretended to want me. From the beginning, only Sandaime-jiji ever gave a damn about me! He's the one who cleaned up the messes when the villagers or shinobi got it into their heads that everyone would be better off if I were dead. He's the one who made sure that I got the chance to become a ninja and grow strong enough to protect myself. If you didn't have a precious person like that, it's because you decided to give up and become what they thought you were; a monster."

"Rraghh!" The roar of anger was the only warning the blonde had before the sand surrounding the redhead convulsed and began to grow. Two crazed eyes looked down on Naruto as the form grew large enough to press against the ceiling to the tower. The stone cracked and shuddered under the pressure, opening the top of the tower to the air outside. Naruto used his storm to deflect the debris away from the spectators as the giant sand form leapt from the top of the tower to land in the surrounding forest. It continued to grow until it towered over the trees in the form of an immense tanuki.

"Bwahaha, free at last," a crazed voice boomed from the Tanuki. "At long last the mighty Shukaku is free to rain terror on the earth!" The sand beast swiveled an eye to look at Naruto as he rose from the wreckage at the top level of the tower on the winds of his storm. "You! You're the one causing my container to stop listening to me. Daitoppa!" A large ball of dense wind shot from the tanuki's mouth, but was batted aside by Naruto's wind to impact in the forest with a casual wave of his hand.

"Heh, looks like I'll have to beat you into submission first," Naruto chuckled as he eyes were subsumed in a blue glow. Shukaku's eyes widened in terror as he noticed the kaze no seirei forming a giant pair of ornate doors behind the blonde.

"Oh, by the nine hells," the tanuki cursed loudly as the doors began to slowly open. "I didn't know that you were a Contractor! Shit, I thought your line died out when Uzu no Kuni was destroyed!"

"No, because I'm very much alive," Naruto smirked, raising his hands to the sky as the doors swung completely open. "As much as I'd love to send you to hell, "I'm not going to permanently harm Gaara. On the other hand, this should do enough damage to keep you quiet for a long time." The doors stopped their movement at full extension and a vortex built around the blonde, connecting the earth and sky with a bridge of spinning air. The clouds in the overcast sky split around the cyclone as it began to widen outwards from the blonde.

Shukaku shrieked in rage and terror, lashing out with his sand in a futile effort to stop the oncoming storm. The blonde just smiled and dropped an arm to point at the giant tanuki as the massive twister lurched towards it. The mass of swirling air crossed the distance between the two of them in seconds, shredding the parts it touched and making the bijuu scream in pain. Naruto was close to finishing the beast off when he dropped the storm and flew forward into Gaara, where he was attached to the tanuki's head and decking him full in the face. The redhead's eyes snapped open and Shukaku let out a final wail before dissolving into a large pile of sand. The Suna-nin's fall was cushioned by the remains of the great beast and he stared up at Naruto with an odd mixture of terror and hope.

"Are you going to kill me," the redhead asked, his voice shaking with exhaustion as much as the limp way he lay on the pile of sand.

"Do you want me to," Naruto asked in a serious tone.

"Yes," Gaara hissed, closing his eyes briefly before opening them to stare pleadingly up at the blonde. "I have become the monster that they all feared. There is no redemption for someone like me…"

"Coward," Naruto yelled as his fist lashed out and cracked against the Suna-nin's face. There was a spider web of cracks spreading across the redhead's face and sand flaked off to reveal the skin underneath. "Trying to take the easy way out just because you think you've had it rough! There are others like us that have demons in them who may be even worse off than we were! And what about Temari-chan? She's your sister and you've caused her more pain than you even know with how you treated her!"

"You truly hold a demon as well," Gaara asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Naruto replied with a smirk as he pointed at the seal on his stomach again with his thumb. "I'm the jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi no Kitsune, but I've never used its power for anything other than the rapid healing. What you need to do is take responsibility for your life and your actions, then people will begin toe respect you and you can find your own real power. It's not an easy path, but it'll be worth it in the end."

Gaara nodded and gave a weak smile as he passed out from exhaustion. Naruto groaned as he realized how much damage their fight had done to the surrounding area and reached down to heft up the Suna-nin in a fireman's carry. Once Gaara was secure, the blonde flew back up to the now open air tower and landed in the shattered remains of the arena before carefully setting down his burden. Everyone still present stared at Naruto in shock as he turned to the Hokage and said, "I told you our fight was going to make a mess, didn't I, jiji?"

A twitter of slightly hysterical laughter ran through the assembled shinobi as the referee approached to check on the two genin. After a cursory examination of the Suna-nin, he rose to his feet and declared, "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!"

* * *

Temari was in shock as she numbly took a slip of paper from the box the examiner held in front of her and told him the number written on it. She still couldn't believe that the laughing orange clown that both intrigued and irritated her held enough power to defeat her brother and the Ichibi's released form. Even worse was that while tired, he had not been seriously injured and probably could have fought again right away.

"Now that everyone's drawn their lots," the referee said as he coughed again, breaking the kunoichi's line of thought, "we'll announce the brackets for the Third Exam. The first match will be Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji, the second match will be Uchiha Sasuke and Dosu Kinata, the third match will be Aburame Shino and Sabaku no Kankarou, the fourth match will be Sabaku no Temari and Nara Shikamaru. The last match of the first round will be Rock Lee and the winner of the fourth match. The second round will have the winner of the first and second fight and the third and fifth fight. The third round will be between the two remaining victorious competitors…"

"Ano, referee-san," Shikamaru asked lazily, raising his hand. "Do we have to win in order to become chuunin?"

"No," the Hokage interrupted, stepping up in front of the competitors. "Candidates are judged for the fitness to become a chuunin by the skill and strategies they use, not by winning. There is no guarantee that anyone will be made chuunin, even if they do win the tournament."

"Now, there will be a month's break until the Third Exam takes place," the referee continued. "This is to allow all of the attending dignitaries enough travel time to arrive, as well as to allow all of the participants time to train and recover. As a reminder, those who do not show up on time will be disqualified. That is all."

The Suna kunoichi absently noted how everyone broke up into teams and departed, except for Naruto. He walked over with a smile and a wink and slipped a piece of paper into her hand. "It's my address," the blonde said in answer to her questioning look. "If you want to take a break from training or just need to get away from your brothers for a while, feel free to stop by. If I'm not there, Haku-chan will be and she can take care of you."

Temari was about to protest when Naruto just closed her hand over the paper, stepped back and disappeared in a swirl of wind. The Suna-nin tried to glare after him, but she realized that he was right. She might need to take a break from training or just need to get out of the hotel room she and her brothers were sharing. _Besides_, she thought, _with the way that Haku girl talked, Naruto is considered a clan head. That means that he should have a good sized place. Hmm, maybe I will impose on him for a while, if only to see if he was serious about me or just flirting shamelessly._

"Oi, Temari," Kankarou called out from by the door. "Are you coming? I think Baki-sensei wants to talk with us before he goes and checks on Gaara in the hospital. Damn, who would ever have thought that a runt like that would have the power to beat both Gaara and the demon down like that. It's kind of a shame that he didn't kill him, though, since that would have made life lot easier for the two of us…"

"He's no that kind of person," Temari snapped. Her brother just looked confused as she stalked angrily past him and out into the hall where their jounin-sensei was waiting fro them.

"Good, both of you are still here," Baki rumbled in his gravelly voice. Temari had always listened carefully to the jounin as he was one of the most experienced in Suna and was an incredibly skilled futon specialist as well. "I'm going to have to return to Suna for a few days and give a report to the Kazekage. Today's events will definitely have an impact on our village's long-term plans and Kazekage-sama needs to know as soon as possible. I trust the two of you can continue with your training while I'm gone."

Temari nodded, reading the message underlying her sensei's words. If Konoha had a genin capable of defeating Gaara at his strongest with such ease, then Suna would have to rethink their alliance with Otogakure in the upcoming invasion of Konoha.

"What the hell was all that, Baki-sensei," Kankarou asked in a low tone that trembled with a little fear. The Suna kunoichi had hear that quiver many times when Gaara was involved, but never about anyone else. "I mean, Gaara has a freaking demon sealed inside of him and the blonde shrimp took him and Shukaku down like he was swatting flies…"

"I have no idea," the veiled jounin replied, then paused as his brow furrowed in thought. "Although…no, it can't be. They died more than fifteen years ago."

"What are you talking about, Baki-sensei," Temari prompted, knowing somehow that the jounin had just reminded something that was vitally important.

"Well, there used to be a clan of powerful wind users in Uzu no Kuni," Baki replied, "but the entire country was wiped out a long time ago. It was one of the first victims of the Kyuubi no Kitsune's rampage."

"The kid's name is Uzumaki," Kankarou said thoughtfully. "Maybe he's the kid of one of the survivors or something like that."

The veiled jounin frowned at the thought. "I hope not," he said. "That clan was disturbingly powerful, but generally made poor shinobi. Poor chakra control, a love of bright colors and loud, boisterous personalities…"

"Describes, Naruto to a tee, doesn't it," Temari asked, a sardonic smirk on her face. "Face it, Baki-sensei, regardless of where he's from, Naruto's going to be a big problem for Kazekage-sama's plans. And what are we supposed to do about Gaara while you're gone?"

"Try and keep him under control." Kankarou snorted at the reply as Baki disappeared in a swirl of sand, indicating that he had nothing left to say to them.

"And how the hell are we supposed to do that," Kankarou asked the otherwise empty hallway, while Temari just shrugged.

A/N:

Sorry about the wait and the shorter chapter. The next few scenes have been giving me a real headache, since they don't want to cooperate. The next chapter may take a while, but it will come in time so I thought I'd go ahead and give you this one.


	15. Chapter 15

Naruto looked at the unconscious form of Sabaku no Gaara with something approaching pity. One of the medic-nin, given the trouble they'd had trying to even get an IV into the Suna-nin's arm, had gotten the bright idea of calling Naruto in for help in piercing the other genin's sand defense. The blonde had been surprised to see that the sand was still reflexively protecting the Suna jinchuuriki even while he was unconscious, although getting the IV in had been simple once he used his wind to separate the blocking cloud of sand.

"I thought that I might be able to find you here," Kakashi's voice said from the doorway.

"Eh, Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing here," the blonde asked in confusion as he turned to see the jounin leaning against the doorframe with his masked nose buried in his little orange book.

"I came to talk about your training for the Third Exam," Kakashi offered slowly, as if explaining to a particularly slow and dim child.

"Oh," the blonde said with a sheepish smile, scratching the back of his head. "I hadn't really thought about that yet. I mean, the second exam just ended and I haven't even had a chance to go home and clean up yet."

"Honestly, Naruto," the jounin sighed as he turned his head to give the blonde a gimlet eye, "you really need to learn to start thinking ahead."

"Oh come on, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto complained, "a lot's happened over the last couple of days. Besides, I figured you'd give me a few exercises and then I'd work on them with Haku-chan."

"Unfortunately, I won't be around for most of the month," the jounin explained. "I'm going to take Sasuke out to train."

The blonde suppressed his initial reaction, which was to scream and rant at his sensei for blatantly favoring the Uchiha like everyone else always had, and made himself think things through to the end. "This has something to do with those weird marks that appeared when we fought those Oto-nin in the forest, doesn't it," he finally asked.

"Very good," Kakashi said, his eye curving up into a smile. "Yes, this has to do with what happened to him in the forest. I need to help him learn to control himself and to not draw on that power. How much do you know about what happened to him?"

"Only what Sakura told me," the blonde replied with a frown. "That some creepy Kusa-nin attacked them after I got knocked away from them. I think that she said the gut bit Sasuke and left. I was delayed by a group of Ame-nin that had laid an ambush for me with a genjutsu trap. Apparently they had been working with the Kusa-nin, since they said something about him tipping them off about me getting separated from the others before it actually happened."

"Interesting," Kakashi mused. "That Kusa-nin was nothing of the sort and no genin either. He's an S-class nukenin from Konoha named Orochimaru."

"That name sounds kind of familiar," Naruto said, tapping a finger against his chin and squinting his eyes in thought.

"You would have heard about him at the Academy if you had paid more attention," the jounin replied. "He was an elite of Konoha, one of the Densetsu no Sannin, before his sick and twisted experiments went too far and he fled the village one step ahead of ANBU."

"So he's done something to the bastard and you get to nanny him," Naruto summed up. "Where does that leave me?"

"I called in a favor and arranged for another jounin to teach you while I'm gone," he said as he stepped aside and let a figure in the hall come into view.

"Ah, it's the closet pervert," Naruto cried out, pointing a finger at Ebisu as the sunglasses wearing jounin entered the room.

"oh, so you know each other already," Kakashi stated, quirking his head to the side quizzically.

"Why would I want to learn anything from a closet pervert like him," the blonde snorted. "I've already beaten him with my Ha-…" the blonde's voice was cut off as Ebisu snaked his arm around Naruto's neck and covered his mouth with a hand.

"If you keep quiet about that incident," Ebisu whispered fiercely, "I will treat you to dinner at that ramen stand you like so much."

"As much as I can I eat," the blonde mumbled through the interposed hand.

"Yes," Ebisu hissed, "now do we have a deal?" Naruto nodded and the jounin removed his hand from over the genin's mouth, but not from around his neck. "Yes, Kakashi-kun, we have met before," the jounin told the other man. "Naruto-kun proved himself to me shortly after becoming a genin and encouraged a burning thirst for improvement in my student Konohamaru-kun."

"Hah, so the brat finally got you to stop calling him honorable grandson," Naruto exclaimed as he wriggled free of the jounin's grasp. "So what did he do? Pour itching powder in your boxers? Douse you with stink bobs? Or did he get more creative?"

"That's not important," the stuffy jounin said hurriedly, much to Kakashi's amusement. "Kakashi-kun asked for my assistance since I an excellent instructor in the…"

"Whatever," Naruto sighed wearily. "Can we do this another time? I'm kinda of wiped out and would like a chance to rest a little before diving into my training. How about meeting in two days time?"

"I suppose that will be acceptable," Ebisu sighed. Naruto nodded and brushed past both jounins as he exited the room. The stuffy shinobi turned to Kakashi and asked, "You're sure you want me to take him to the hot springs for training? I would think a boy his age would find the atmosphere distracting…"

"Don't worry too much about that," the one-eyed jounin chuckled as he turned back to his book. "Despite his Oiroke no jutsu, Naruto's the least perverted male ninja that I've ever known. I think Haku-san is working on rectifying that though."

* * *

"Tadaima," Naruto called out as he paused in the entryway of his house to slip off his sandals.

"Okaerinasai, Naruto-sama," Haku said as she materialized from an ice mirror that had sprouted on the veranda. She waved her hand idly and the mirror melted back into water that flew off to water the lawn. "I 'm pleased that you have returned so soon, Naruto-sama. How did the exams go?"

"I kicked some real serious ass," the blonde said with a broad grin as he joined the girl on the veranda. "We made it through the first part by the skin of our teeth cause it was a written exam where you were supposed to cheat and not get caught. It was all a lie though, since all you had to do was wait it out through the stupid tenth question and you'd pass. Heh, I didn't even answer a single question on that paper.

"The second exam was in a really nasty place called the Forest of Death where each team had a scroll and we had to get the other type of scroll from one of the other teams. Some weird nukenin called Orochimaru attacked us in there and did something to Sasuke that Kakashi-sensei's worried about, but we made it through that one too.

"When we got to the tower in the middle, we found out that too many teams had passed, so there was a preliminary one on one tournament to determine who would compete in the big event for the third exam. Supposedly it's a big tournament that draws lots of bigwigs from all over Hi no Kuni and some from outside too."

"I take it from your cheerful demeanor that you bested your opponent," Haku asked with a smile as she preceded Naruto to his room and waited for him to enter and divest himself of his gear.

"Yeah," Naruto replied as he dropped his backpack and weapon pouch on the floor before stepping behind a tri-fold screen to change out of the clothes he'd been wearing for the last several days. He'd bought the screen when he realized that privacy while changing clothes was a concept that Haku refused to accept. He stepped out from behind it tying the obi on an orange yukata with little fishcakes on it. "I had to fight a guy named Gaara. Turns out he was Temari-chan's little brother and the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi to boot. I beat him down, but we caused a lot of damage to the tower during our fight cause his demon got loose for a little while."

"I'm glad that everything went so well for you, Naruto-sama," Haku replied with a soft smile. "I should have dinner prepared for you in an hour or so, during which time I suggest you avail yourself of a bath. Oh, I purchased some instructional materials for you while you were gone. They're sitting on your desk."

Naruto glanced over at the low desk standing against the wall and saw a stack of small books with bright orange covers sitting on it. "But Haku-chan," Naruto stammered, "those are the perverted books that Kakashi-sensei reads all of the time!"

"Oh, I had no idea," Haku said demurely as she put a hand in front of her mouth in feigned shock. "I just asked the store clerk's advice when he recommended those novels as the best way to educate a young man like yourself on women and sex."

"Ack, you're trying to turn me into a pervert, aren't you, Haku-chan," Naruto accused, pointing a finger at the girl.

"That's so cruel, Naruto-sama," Haku sniffed as a tear slid down her face. "I'm just trying to ensure that you'll be prepared for your future happiness when you take a bride and you accuse me of trying to turn you into a lecher?" The kunoichi put both of her hands over her face and bowed her head in a muffled sob.

"ah, no, I'm sorry, Haku-chan," Naruto said hurriedly, his arms wind-milling in helpless frustration as he tried to comfort the girl. "I'll read the books if that'll make you happy. So please don't cry, ok?"

Haku nodded and rubbed at her eyes, sniffling as she looked at him with a watery gaze. "Really? So you don't think I'm trying to turn you into some kind of pervert," she asked, her voice quavering.

"Of course not," Naruto replied nervously, grabbing the book from the top of the stack. "Look, I'll even take one into the bath with me and start reading it. See!" The blonde fled the room and tore off down the hall towards the bathroom before Haku could say anything further.

The kunoichi stared after him for a moment and carefully removed the bottle of eye cleanser from the sleeve of her kimono with a faint smile. "Ninpou: Naiteru no Ko, successful," could be heard as she started humming and began to collect the blonde's dirty laundry for the wash.

Meanwhile, Naruto closed the bathroom door behind him and tried to calm his rapidly beating heart. He had started to panic when Haku began crying and had rashly promised to read the little orange book that he now clutched in his hand.

_Damn it, why do I always fall to pieces for a crying girl_, the blonde thought furiously as he sat the book next to the pool sized furo. Shrugging off his yukata, Naruto hung it inside the door and checked once more to see that the entryway was secure. _Somehow Haku-chan always manages to get me to do thing that I don't want to and I need to figure out how. That way I can make a defense against it_. The blonde sat himself down in front of the showerhead and thoroughly scrubbed himself before rinsing off and settling down in the heat of the furo. He stared at the small day-glo book sitting on the side in the same contemplative horror that one might regard a similarly colored poisonous snake.

"Well," Naruto said out loud, stealing his nerve, "there's nothing for it except to take the plunge." He picked up the book and opened it to the first page. "Let's see; Icha Icha Paradise volume one: The path to manhood by the great, super, ultimate and totally awesome Jiraiya-sama...who the hell is this guy? He sounds even crazier than chou geji mayuu." Naruto turned the page and continued to read out loud, hoping to feel less like a pervert by pretending that he was just reading the book to someone else.

The blonde read on, page after page flying by as Naruto recited the contents and tried not to stare at the occasional illustration. It was surprisingly well written for such blatant porn and he shocked to discover that the protagonist was named Naruto as well. The action was getting progressively steamier and the blonde could feel his nose burning a little from the beginnings of a nosebleed as the rest of the blood in his body seemed to have a different destination in mind. He tore his eyes from the book and closed it, using all of his willpower to not immediately reopen the novel and see what happened next. Getting out of the furo and drying off was complicated by the obvious sign of arousal sticking out at a forty-five degree angle from his body.

"Naruto-sama," Haku's voice called from the hall, "dinner is prepared."

"I'll be right there," Naruto managed to stammer out as he dried off as best he could and pulled his yukata on. Much to his dismay, he found that the had to wrap the yukata tight and tie it over his erection to keep it from tenting out.

"Is everything all right, Naruto-sama," Haku called again and the blonde heard the outer shoji begin to slide open.

"No! I mean, no, everything's fine, Haku-chan," Naruto said quickly as he collected the book and straightened his yukata as much as possible, trying to ignore the pleasant sensation the cloth rubbing against him created. Opening the door, Naruto saw a surprised Haku and gave her a smile. "Let's go eat."

* * *

Temari let out a heavy sigh and tried to tune out the racket Kankarou was making as he disassembled Karasu and began checking every part of the battle puppet for damage. This was a familiar ritual that he had done every time he'd ever actually used the aged construct in battle, but for some reason it had begun to irritate the kunoichi beyond belief.

"So what do you think the Kazekage's gonna say when he finds out that your boyfriend defeated Gaara," Kankarou asked in a muffled tone as he held several small tools clenched in his teeth.

"It's hard to say," Temari frowned, a tick growing in one eye. "A lot of our shinobi were surprised when Kazekage-sama announced our alliance with Otogakure for this invasion since our forces have dwindled over the last two decades. Our big trump card was supposed to be Gaara and now that Konoha has proven that he can be neutralized….and by a genin at that…Oh, and Naruto is not my boyfriend."

"Could have fooled me," Kankarou mumbled. "Especially with the way the shrimp's been hanging all over you."

"All right, that's it," Temari said loudly, rising to her feet and looming over her younger brother where he sat on the floor of their hotel room. "I'm sick of your whining. All you've done since we got here is bitch constantly and I'm not going to deal with it anymore. I have somewhere else that I can stay and I'm going to take advantage of it, so you can sit here for the next month and be miserable by yourself."

The blonde kunoichi stormed around the room, gathering hr belongings before leaving the hotel suite and slamming the door behind her. She was so upset that she didn't hear her brother say, "It's about time," as she huffed out angrily. When she reached the street below, Temari dug out the paper that Naruto had given her with the directions on it. She felt a sweatdrop form as she realized that the handwriting was far too precise and feminine to have been written by the orange-clad boy.

The morning streets had not yet become crowded, so the Suna kunoichi had little trouble making her way across town following the path the directions laid out. She found the streets growing quieter and less populated as she traveled towards the designated address. Many of the buildings showed signs of battle damage that had never been repaired and the effects of long term neglect. Temari wondered exactly what would make a prosperous and heavily populated village like Konoha leave an area to just rot like this, but her attention was diverted to the sight of a large gate up ahead that showed signs of recent maintenance and care.

"Hello," the Suna-nin called out as she knocked on the large wooden doors. A faint voice from the distance reassured her that someone was home and would attend her soon, but she still shifted nervously as she waited. The door swung open a few feet and a very beautiful young woman with porcelain skin and lustrous black hair dressed in a white kimono stepped out. Temari vaguely remembered seeing her before with Naruto.

"Ah, Temari-san," Haku greeted the other kunoichi with a bow. "Naruto-sama informed me yesterday that you might take up his offer of hospitality. Welcome to Uzumaki-ke."

"Thanks," Temari replied hesitantly, remembering that this girl was the one who seemed to be Naruto's bodyguard. She looked like the picture perfect yamato nadeshiko, but there were small things that spoke to her of extensive training and substantial skill. It wouldn't surprise the Suna-nin at all to discover that Haku had a dozen concealed weapons on her person. "Naruto said that I could stay here if I needed to, and frankly Kankarou was getting on my nerves even more than usual. So I came here for a little peace and quiet."

"Please follow me," Haku said with a smile as she reentered the gate. The blonde followed the other girl and couldn't help but be impressed by the lush greenery of the grounds inside the compound.

"Naruto-sama has worked very hard to restore this land," Haku said as she pushed the gate closed behind them. "When he first acquired this home, no one had lived her or even tended the grounds for more than ten years."

"Why," Temari asked with a frown on her face. "I noticed that a lot of the buildings in this part of town were like that, but I couldn't figure out the reason."

"This section of Konoha was the most heavily damaged by the attack of the Kyuubi no Kitsune thirteen yeas ago, or so I have been told," Haku informed the other kunoichi as she led her to the house. "Apparently there was a miasma in the area after it was defeated and even after it had faded, people stayed away. Not the most rational response, but an event such as that is unlikely to promote rational thinking."

"So you don't seem like you're from Konoha," Temari asked hesitantly as the two of them approached the house. Both of the girls doffed their sandals and entered the front while the blonde thought over what Haku had said and more importantly, how it had been said.

"I was born in Mizu no Kuni," Haku replied. "My parents died when I was young, but I had the good fortune to be taken in as an apprentice by Momoichi Zabuza. At the time he was still one of Kirigakure's Seven Swordsmen, but he lead a coup attempt against the Mizukage and we were forced to become nukenin."

"So how did you wind up with Naruto," Temari asked, curiosity overriding the instinct telling her that this might be too personal of a topic.

"Naruto-sama gave me a reason to live after Zabuza-sama was killed," Haku said simply. "I have chosen to become his weapon to smite his enemies and his tool to take care of any other needs that might arise."

"You mean that you've had sex with him," the blonde asked in astonishment, surprised at the sharp stab of jealousy she felt.

"Oh no, Naruto-sama is still a virgin," Haku reassured the Suna kunoichi. "He's actually surprisingly shy and innocent for a boy his age, so I had to provide him with some instructional material to help educate him. You see, the Hokage and his final instructor at the Academy, Iruka-san, were the only people Naruto-sama was ever close to and he never received a proper course on sexual education. While it is considered less important for a male shinobi than it is for a kunoichi, I would be remiss in my duties if I were to leave this portion of his education neglected. I believe it's best that he remain pure until he is married, however I will do what I must to ensure that he does not become…overstressed."

Temari could only stare at the other girl's back in numb shock at the revelations. Apparently, Haku was an old fashioned kunoichi sworn to serve her lord, Naruto in this case, in any manner possible. This was an extreme rarity these days as kunoichi were much stronger-willed and had significantly more options open to them, at least in the major shinobi villages. While a part of Temari was decidedly happier that Haku wasn't sleeping with Naruto, and she couldn't quite pin down why that mattered so much to her, the prospect of the other kunoichi servicing the boy sent strange shivers of pleasure through her.

"Here's the bedroom that I've prepared for you," Haku said as she slid a shoji aside to reveal a sparsely furnished room. "I apologize for the spartan decoration, but there has been neither time nor money available recently to truly furnish the rooms. Naruto-sama's bedroom is across the hall and mine is next door to his. The bathroom and furo are at the end of the hallway. I generally serve breakfast and dinner, as Naruto-sama normally has his lunch at Ichiraku Ramen."

"Um, thanks," the blonde said as she stepped into the room feeling horribly confused and conflicted. She set her pack on the floor, he battle fan against the wall by the door and looked around. Despite the lack of furnishings, the tatami mats were new and the walls were either freshly varnished or shoji that looked like they had recently been repapered. "A soak sounds pretty good right now. You said the furo is down at the end of the hall?"

"Yes, Temari-san," Haku replied with a smile. "The pool is recirculated hot water and is always available. Towels and other supplies are in the cabinets in the changing room. Now if you'll excuse me, there are still some tasks that I have to attend to."

Temari watched as the other kunoichi walked away before shrugging and heading the other way towards the bathroom. She had to check a few doors before finding the right one, noting that there were several empty bedrooms along the hall. _Looks like he's got some serious space here_, Temari considered as she undressed in the changing room, _but it's only the two of them here. If Naruto and Haku are the only ones I'd be bothering, then I don't feel bad about imposing on them for a while_.

Holding a towel in front of her to keep from accidentally exposing herself should anyone potentially be in the bathroom, Temari opened the door and stepped through. The room was incredibly humid due to the extremely large pool of steaming water set in the middle, which made the blonde sigh in pleasure as she picked up one of the wooden buckets and rinsed herself off before setting the towel on the side and slipping into the furo.

The heat was nearly overwhelming for a moment, but Temari felt herself adjusting quickly and sank down to her neck in the water. The builder of the furo had included built-in benches along the sides, which she was prepared to take shameless advantage of. It had been quite a while since the Suna-nin had the opportunity for a leisurely soak like this and she sighed in pleasure as the heat sank into her muscles. _This really is the best way to relax, _she thought contentedly.

The Suna kunoichi let herself lay there, luxuriating in the pool's heat like a cat in the sun for quite a while. She really didn't pay attention to the passage of time until she heard someone moving around in the changing room. Temari grabbed the towel and clutched it to herself just as the door opened to reveal Haku, who was likewise holding a towel in front of her otherwise naked body.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Haku blushed slightly, "I didn't realize that you were still in here, Temari-san. Would it be all right if I joined you?"

"That's fine," the dark blonde replied as she forced herself to put the towel back on the edge of the furo and tried not to stare at the other girl as she rinsed herself and entered the pool. "I'm sorry that I've been a bit abrupt with you, Haku-san, but I've had a stressful time recently."

"Yes, from what I've heard the chuunin exams can be quite stressful," Haku replied as she piled her hair on top of her head and wrapped it in her towel while standing by the edge of the furo. Temari found herself unable to look away without doing something that might be considered impolite, so she settled on assessing Haku as a kunoichi. The other girl had a lean body that was just beginning to lose its hard tone and soften into some very nice curves. The scars were barely visible, except for a rather large one that ran down her chest and across the upper portion of her stomach. The blonde winced at the sight, wondering how Haku had come by it and how she'd managed to survive the wound that had caused it.

"Does the scar bother you, Temari-san," Haku asked abruptly, jolting the Suna-nin out of her contemplation. "If you're curious, I don't mind answering questions about it."

"Are you sure," Temari asked hesitantly, her eyes fixed on the scar where it traveled between the other girl's breasts.

"Of course," Haku said cheerfully. "While that day holds one of my worst memories, it has led to my life here and I've never been happier. You see, Naruto-sama was the one who gave me the wound that caused this scar."

"Naruto did that," Temari asked in shock and a little twinge of growing respect. As a Fuuton specialist herself, she knew the terrible damage that could be caused by wind based jutsu.

"To be fair, Naruto-sama believed that I had just killed his teammate," Haku explained. "He was not aware that I had merely placed Uchiha-san in a death-like state and attacked me with all of his strength, which was not nearly so great as it is now. At the same time, Hatake-san, killed my former master, Zabuza-sama."

"So how did you become his servant," Temari asked, her eyes still fixed on the scar that ran through the valley between the other kunoichi's breasts. "I can't imagine that you were too happy with the circumstances…"

"Oh, I was not," Haku chuckled, causing very interesting motions in the anatomy that Temari had her eyes glued to. "In fact, I begged him to kill me at first, but he refused and ensured that I received the best medical treatment available. He even gave his own blood for a transfusion to save my life, despite my actions against his team and the village. I don't think I need to explain to you, Temari-san, exactly how persuasive Naruto-sama's earnestness can be. Eventually he managed to get through my grief and touch my heart. That was when I swore fealty to him."

"That boy really is full of surprises," Temari chuckled, tearing her eyes away from Haku's chest and raising them to meet the other kunoichi's eyes. "He definitely makes life interesting though."

* * *

Naruto stretched as he rolled from his bed with a yawn and stumbled out of his room and down the hall to the bathroom adjoining the furo. The occupied sign wasn't up, but the blonde vaguely registered noises from the bath and muzzily decided to skip the soak since he was going to the onsen district today for training and could clean up there if he had to. Certain calls of nature, however, could not be ignored, so the blonde entered the outer room and lowered his boxers to relieve himself with a sigh.

The inner door to the furo slid open and a startled gasp could be heard. Naruto's head ratcheted to the side slowly to see Temari standing in the doorway clutching a towel over the front of her body. Unfortunately, the towel was rather small and left a great deal of the kunoichi's body exposed to Naruto's view. His eyes traveled up her toned legs, across the sharp curve of her hips, skirting the edges of her firm breasts and over her slightly quivering shoulders up to her face. A face that was slowly turning crimson with a combination of embarrassment and anger.

Naruto felt a rush of blood as the exposed portion of his anatomy reacted to the sight of the Suna kunoichi's body and decided to say hello. A flush grew on his cheeks as he reached down desperately to grab his boxers and yank them up post haste while he ripped his gaze from Temari's body and fixed it steadily on the ground. "Ah, Temari-san," he stammered, "I didn't know that you were in there. I knew someone was inside, but I didn't think there'd be a problem with me using the toilet really quickly…"

The blonde girl didn't say a word. She just reached into the room and grabbed a robe before stepping back into the other room and sliding the door shut. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and bolted from the bathroom before the upset kunoichi might decide to take some sort of vengeance. _It wasn't like I meant for that to happen_, the blonde thought resentfully. _It was an accident!_ Despite that, the blonde found it difficult to get that image of Temari out of his head as he hurried dressed and prepared to leave.

"Naruto-sama," Haku called as she opened his door to see him pulling his jacket on and strapping his weapon pouch to his thigh. "Weren't you going to have breakfast this morning?"

"Gomen, Haku-chan," Naruto apologized, clapping his hands together and bowing his head over them, "but I have to meet up with the closet pervert for my training today and I'd really like to show up on time."

"Very well, Naruto-sama," Haku sighed. "Should I expect you for dinner, or will you be returning late?"

"I don't know," the blonde admitted, scratching his head. "It depends what the closet pervert's got me working on. For some reason he told me to meet him down at the district where all the onsens are, so I have no idea what he wants me to do."

"Very well, Naruto-sama," Haku said with a smile. "Just make sure to let me know when you return. I was a little concerned last night."

"Hehe, sorry about that," he apologized. "I had to spend a bunch of time with jiji working on the clan account books and making sure they were set up right since the last of the payment for the A-rank mission came in. We were in his office for most of the evening."

"Just remember to let me know that you're home," Haku reminded with a pout. "Surely that's not too big of a request to ask?"

"Of course not," Naruto smiled, feeling weak against the cuteness of the kunoichi's pout, "but I really have to get going, Haku-chan." The blonde dashed down the hall, slipping his feet into his sandals before sprinting out the door.

The onsen district of Konoha was a busy place. There was a thriving resort industry here to take advantage of the natural springs fed by a vent from a dormant volcano in the mountain range behind the village. Naruto had heard that the shinobi prison hung suspended over the lava and hoped viciously that Mizuki was enjoying his stay in that little slice of hell. Ebisu was standing by one of the bridges over the stream that carried the waste water from the pools of the various inns nearby.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, it's good to see that you aren't picking up Kakashi-kun's bad habit of being excessively tardy," the jounin commented arrogantly.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto shrugged dismissively. "So why did you want me to come out here? Seems to me that the only reason to be here is to go into an onsen or that you want to peep while I do some silly exercise."

"N…nonsense," Ebisu stammered, a hint of color blooming on his cheeks. "I merely wish to test your chakra control with the water walking exercise before moving on to something else."

"I'm not sure that I should worry too much about using my chakra," Naruto protested. "My wind manipulation doesn't use chakra at all…"

"I 'm aware of that," Ebisu interrupted, "and your ability at wind manipulation, while most impressive, is also a very visible and unmistakable trademark. In your career as a ninja, you will need a greater repertoire of jutsu and skills that can be used for stealth and infiltration missions."

"Hmm," Naruto considered, squinting his eyes shut as he considered the jounin's position. "I guess you have a point. Most of what I can do with my wind abilities are big area effect types and not exactly useful outside of a heavy combat mission."

"And while it is not a bad thing to have a specialization like that," Ebisu continued, "if you are seriously seeking a promotion, you will need to show the examiners a variety of skills. It is a very rare thing in Konoha for a one trick pony to be promoted."

"So I need to know other things in order to impress the judges," Naruto concluded. "All right, let's get to work!"

"Now I want you to walk on the water," Ebisu started to explain, only to be cut short as the blonde walked out on the stream and stood there calmly with his arms crossed over his chest. "I was under the impression that Kakashi-kun hadn't taught your team this chakra control exercise yet."

"I figured this and the tree climbing one out before I became a genin," Naruto replied proudly. "Iruka-sensei explained how they worked, although I don't think he actually expected me to actually be able to master them yet. Heh, he taught me more by accident than Kakashi-sensei has ever taught me since I got on Team Seven."

"Indeed, Umino-kun is one of the best teachers the Academy has seen in a long time," Ebisu agreed pleasantly. "Now that we've established that your chakra control is sufficiently advanced, we need to discuss what jutsu you'll be studying over the next month as well as a strategy for defeating the Hyuuga boy."

"Jutsu," Naruto repeated with a grin that threatened to split his face in two at the thought of finally having someone willing to share jutsu with him, the former pariah of Konoha.

* * *

"Ah, Temari-san, how are you feeling this morning," Haku asked cheerfully as the Suna kunoichi emerged from her room.

"Not too bad," Temari replied absently. She wasn't feeling bad, just a little disturbed by her run-in with a certain shinobi in the bathroom that morning. "Is there anything for breakfast?"

"I kept some onigiri fresh in case you felt hungry," Haku replied, producing a plate of seaweed wrapped rice balls. "So what are your plans for today?"

"I'd thought about getting some training in," Temari considered as she helped herself to the onigiri, "but I hadn't really decided yet."

"Would you care to accompany me to the onsen? A new one opened recently and I have been interested in going," Haku explained. "Naruto-sama doesn't care to go with me and I don't really enjoy the onsen quite as much when I'm in there by myself or with strangers."

"I guess I could go," Temari admitted. "The furo here is very nice, but it doesn't quite match up to a real onsen like I've heard that you have here in Konoha. The minerals in the water do some amazing things for your skin and health."

"Really," Haku squealed in glee. "I haven't been able to go to one more than a handful of times in my life. Zabuza-sama saw no use in such things and since Naruto-sama dislikes patronizing most of the businesses in the village, I haven't had the chance to take advantage of the ones here. Let's go!"

Temari smiled as the other kunoichi grabbed her hand and half pulled the blonde through the house. Given the other girl's upbringing, it was unlikely that she'd ever had the opportunity to make friends with other women and Temari didn't mind having Haku as a friend. After all, Temari's father and brother had kept the majority of children her own age, both male and female, well away from the blonde. This had ensures an equally friend starved childhood and sparked a kinship with Naruto's faithful retainer.

The two girls donned their footwear and headed out across town, chatting amiably. Temari was deeply impressed with Haku's fashion sense and the grace with which the other girl wore her kimono. Haku found the Suna kunoichi's fierce independence an endearing and admirable trait. It struck Temari as odd that the two of them, who would never have met if it hadn't been for Naruto, were quickly becoming good friends.

"Ne, Haku, isn't it weird how Naruto seems to change everything around him without meaning to," the blonde asked as the two of them walked.

"I wouldn't say that it's weird, Temari-san," the other girl replied. "Naruto-sama is a very special and rare person. History is full of tales about people like him that catalyzed change, both for good and bad. I think Naruto-sama's heart is just so big that once people begin to see him for himself rather than what they think he is, that they cannot help but change."

"See him for what he really is." Temari asked curiously. "What else would people see him as? Oh, I've heard that he earned quite the reputation as a prankster, but what made him feel that soul crushing loneliness that became such powerful compassion?"

"I'm afraid that is something that Naruto-sama has to tell you himself," Haku replied uncomfortably. "There are things about him that are kept secret for good reason, but given a little time I think he will confide in you about them as well."

Temari considered this as the two of them entered the onsen district and the humidity in the air jumped several levels. Haku led them to a brand new building that still smelled of varnish and paint with a sign that read the 'Kimochi Ii Onsen.' A few women were leaving as the duo approached, chattering happily about how nice the water had been. Haku stepped up and paid the manager for the both of them before puling the blonde into the changing room, where they shed their clothes and grabbed towels before heading out to the spring.

"Looks like we've got the place to ourselves right now," Temari commented as she filled a small tub with water and rinsed herself off before slipping into the spring. The water was extremely hot and forced a hiss of pain from the blonde as her body adjusted to the high temperatures.

"I would guess that those ladies we passed on their way out would have stayed had we arrived earlier," Haku replied as she eased into the water with a contented sigh. "While I would not mind sharing with them, it's kind of pleasant to have the onsen to ourselves."

"Yeah, you wouldn't know it to see me, but I'm really body shy," Temari shared.

"Oh, is that why Naruto-sama looked so uncomfortable this morning," Haku asked mischievously.

"That was his fault," Temari replied hotly, flushing red down to her shoulders. "He shouldn't have come into the changing room while I was in the bath. How was I supposed to know that he was in there when I was coming out to get dressed?"

"Maa," Haku said with an amused smile. "So, Naruto-sama got a good look, did he? How did he react? Did you get an eyeful?"

"He was rightfully embarrassed," Temari growled. "And he didn't see me naked. I had my towel up in front of me at the time, even if his boxers were down…" The blonde's blush grew deeper as she realized what she'd admitted.

"Aww," Haku pouted, "you need to relax, Temari-san. You know that Naruto-sama is too much of a gentleman to ever take advantage of a situation like that. If you want something to happen, you'll have to take the initiative and make the first move."

"What are you talking about," Temari asked incredulously. "First move? He's only what…thirteen? I'm fifteen and even I'm not sure that I'm ready for things like that!"

"I swear," Haku sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose with two fingers, "that you and Naruto-sama are two of a kind. You do realize that he will likely have to marry within the next year or two in order to secure his clan's position. And I'm surprised that you aren't engaged already, since the Kazekage is your father."

"No one wants me," Temari mumbled as she slumped a bit. "No one wants to deal with the dual baggage of dealing with the Kazekage and Gaara as in-laws."

"And yet you know that doesn't bother Naruto-sama in the slightest," Haku pointed out. She paused for a moment, her brow furrowing in thought before a wicked grin split her face and she slid over to sit right next to the Suna kunoichi. "Perhaps you just need to relax a little. That's something that I think I can help with."

"What…"Temari cut off with a squeak as Haku reached over and ran a hand lightly across the blonde's taut stomach and down into the curly thatch between her legs. The Suna kunoichi stiffened as Haku's nimble fingers found their goal and began to tease it with light touches as she leaned over and pulled Temari closer. The dark haired kunoichi placed light kisses on the other girl's collarbone as her free hand caressed the blonde's pert breasts. "What are you doing," Temari managed to gasp out between involuntary moans.

"Naruto-sama has grown very fond of you, Temari-san," Haku replied huskily as she slowly kissed her way up the other girl's throat. "Just as my duties call upon me to relieve his tensions, I offer my services to you as well. You are, after all, likely to be the one he chooses as a bride. Tell me, Temari-san, do you really want me to stop now?"

A soft moan of pleasure was the only answer.

* * *

Naruto was tired, hot and quickly becoming frustrated with his new training. Ebisu had shown the blonde the basics for a very simple katon jutsu and it was not working at all. For some reason Naruto was unable to convert his chakra into fire, even with the help of the focusing hand seals. After about three hours of trying, he had yet to produce anything more than a little bit of smoke that made him hack and wheeze like an old man.

"Perhaps fire is not a suitable element for you," Ebisu mused, ignoring the Sasuke-like glare of death that the blonde directed his way. "Fuuton and katon are usually very compatible elements and can feed each other to become a more powerful jutsu. Perhaps a suiton or ration would suit you better, though I doubt we'd have any luck with doton. Earth is rarely compatible with wind."

"That's right," Naruto said, snapping his fingers in realization. "Haku-chan said that she uses fuuton and suiton to make her hyoton work. Maybe I can do something similar…"

"It's unlikely, Naruto-kun," Ebisu said, cutting the genin short. "To fully combine two elements and create a new one is the province of bloodline limits. Like how the Shodaime Hokage was able to use Mokuton jutsu, this Haku of yours must have a bloodline that allows them to create hyoton. We'll focus on suiton for now. The first jutsu uses six hand seals…"

Naruto half tuned the jounin out as he heard a disturbing giggle coming from the bushes that flanked a wall by a nearby onsen. If he looked closely there was a white-haired man with his face glued to the privacy fence, probably looking through a knothole. This thoroughly irritated the blonde. He had accidentally seen Temari clad in only a towel that morning, but that had been an accident. This guy was committing a crime!

"Naruto-kun, are you listening to me," Ebisu said loudly, irritation in his voice. The blonde's attention snapped back to the jounin as he continued. "If you will not pay attention, you will be wasting both of our time…"

"Sorry, but there's a weird guy over there peeping on the women's bath," Naruto told the jounin. "At least I hope it's the women's bath, cause then it would go from creep and wrong to sick and wrong."

Ebisu turned around in outrage to see the older man crouching by the fence and called out, "You over there, desist in your actions immediately or I will be forced to punish you!" The man merely gestured with his hand for the jounin to leave him alone, but the bespectacled shinobi's face grew scarlet with anger. "I warn you that I am a jounin of Konohagakure and I will not permit such lewd actions!"

"Aw, the girls all left," the white-haired man whined, turning to glare at Ebisu. "I guess I'll just have to teach you a lesson about disturbing my important research."

"How dare you," Ebisu exclaimed as he rushed forward to strike the older man, only to be carelessly swatted aside. The bespectacled jounin was sent flying off into a wall by a casual seeming blow that made Naruto's eyes narrow. Ebisu slid to the ground slowly, completely unconscious.

"Pathetic," the white-haired man said with a short derisive laugh. "If that's all Konoha's jounin are capable of these days, then they've really lowered their standards."

Naruto felt a tic form under his eye as he stared at his fallen substitute teacher for a long moment. He spun and pointed an accusatory finger at the oddly dressed man and shouted, "Who the hell do you think you are? That guy may have been a wuss, but he was actually teaching me some things until you showed up!"

"Hehe," the older man chuckled as he was suddenly engulfed in a cloud of smoke that slowly cleared to reveal him standing on top of an extremely large orange toad. It was bigger than even the Inuzuka dogs and Naruto was ready to be impressed until the mysterious an opened his mouth again. "Pay attention, gaki! I'm the holy sennin of Mokubyuoyama, one of the Densetsu no Sannin, the gamasennin Jiraiya!" He posed ridiculously on top of the toad and the blonde felt a sweatdrop begin to form.

"And all that gives you the right to beat on a shinobi who was trying to stop a pervert like you from peeping on the women's onsen?" Naruto scowled at the older ninja, who huffed himself up to look indignant.

"If he's going to take on a role like that, then he should be capable of backing up his words with skill and strength. Besides, you look like you're just a snot nosed genin who couldn't understand the true genius behind my masterwork," Jiraiya stated as he reached into his top and pulled out a small orange book. "Behold the long awaited sequel to Icha Icha Paradise: Icha Icha Violence! If you behave, I might even let you take an advance peek at what is sure to be my newest bestseller."

"I have never met such an irredeemable pervert," Naruto said with a sigh as Jiraiya puffed himself up proudly. "Even Kakashi-sensei has limits to his perversion, since her just walks around reading that smut in public. But you…you actually peep on bathhouses and write about it?!"

"Of course," Jiraiya replied matter-of-factly, noticing that a strong wind was beginning to pick up around them. "I need inspiration for my novels. I have researched at virtually every onsen in the Elemental countries and the border countries as well."

"Then a whole lot of women are going to be grateful when I send you to hell," Naruto growled, his eyes glowing faintly blue as he lashed out with a punch into the empty air, sending a concentrated burst of wind at the perverted sennin. Jiraiya's hands ran through a set of hand seals and the long white hair stretched to extend around him and formed a spiky cocoon. While this did blunt the force of the wind some, there was still more than enough strength to send him flying through the wall behind him and across the steaming pool of the onsen where he impacted the large rocks that formed the other side hard enough to daze him.

* * *

Temari wasn't sure whether she felt grateful as the old man burst through the wall and was flattened against the far side of the onsen or not. While it was true that she had been completely surprised by Haku's advances, she'd been surprised to find that there was a part of her that actively welcomed them and the pleasure the other kunoichi had been giving her.

"Ara," Haku said, pulling herself slightly off Temari's body to see what had caused all of the noise. "What's going on?" A groan from the pile of white hair was the only immediate response.

"Ha," a familiar male voice shouted smugly, making Temari tense up in panic. "That's what you get for being such a pervert!" A familiar orange outfit came into view as Naruto bounced into the onsen area through the new hole in the wall.

"Naruto-sama," Haku called out in a confused tone, "what are you doing?"

"Jus beating down on an old pervert, Haku-chan," the blonde replied automatically before turning his head to fully realize the presence of the two kunoichi and their…unusual positions. "Haku-chan…and Temari-chan?!" A trickle of blood dribbled from Naruto's nose for a moment before erupting into a spray with terrific hydraulic force that sent him to the ground and unconsciousness.

Haku moved immediately to Naruto's side to check on him as Temari slid over to reach for her towel. As she turned her head, she saw the white-haired man had recovered from his crash and was frantically scribbling something down on paper and giggling in a disturbing manner. A flush of rage overwhelmed Temari's face as her hand changed course to grab her battle fan instead of the towel. Glad that she hadn't left the house without her weapon, the Suna kunoichi snapped the fan open and swung it at the older man with a yell of "Daikamaitachi!"

The chakra driven wind caught the white-haired man by surprise and threw him high into the sky and far away as Temari huffed in anger, which did some rather impressive things to her chest. "Damn perverts," she muttered as she snapped the fan closed and wrapped herself in the towel she'd originally been reaching for.

A/N:

Sorry this has taken so long, but my muse has been on a long vacation and is only willing to work part time right now, plus real life has gotten fairly busy. My stories will continue and be updated, but there may be some long delays at times.


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